University  of  California. 


FROM  THE    LIBRARY  OF 

Dr.  JOSEPH    LeCONTE. 

^GIFT  OF  MRS.   LECONTE. 

No. 


%r~ 


^'VVv—       OUA,  ^ 


■"7j/t*t 


THE 


RUmS  REVISITED, 


AND 


THE  WORLD-STORY   RETOLD. 


BY  AN  AMERICAINIST. 


a^/rU. 


/a 


Vr^>' 


W  i- 


Copy  Right  by  the  Publisher. 

1887. 


CHAPTER  I. 


ORIGIN    OF    ALL    TIIIXGS. 


Six  thousand  years  ago  our  fathers  were  a  million 
million  miles  farther  away  from  the  stars  of  Hercules 
than  we  are  now.  "We  are  entering  a  region  more 
thickly  studded  with  stars  and  stellar  systems  than  that 
through  which  they  were  unconsciously  hurled  at  the 
rate  of  160,000,000  miles  a  year.  But  we  will  not 
reach  Hercules.  Our  journey  is  to  be  around  Alcyone, 
and  a  return  to  this  part  of  the  stellar  arena  at  some  la- 
ter era.  It  is  asserted  that  this  vast  system  to  Avhich 
our  earth  belongs  was  once  a  single  nebula;  and  there 
are  nelmlous  stars  now  in  sight  as  large  as  the  orbit  of 
Neptune.  There  are  maelstroms  of  stellar  matter  call- 
ed spiral  nebulte;  one  is  in  Canes.  Another  class  resem- 
ble planetary  disks;  one  of  which  is  seen  in  the  South- 
ern Cross.  Several  others  have  perfectly  the  appearance 
of  rings,  and  are  called  annular  nebulw.  Others  again 
are  connected  in  pairs,  like  binary  stars.  Most  of  the 
smaller  nebula}  have  each  a  nucleus  enveloped  in  a  ncl)- 
ulous  veil,  the  nucleus  sometimes  concentrated  as  a  star 
and  sometimes  diffused,  the  enveloping  veil  sometimes 
circular,  sometimes  elliptical,  with  every  degree  of  ec- 
centricity between  a  straighOine*  and  a  circle.  Some 
have  great  branching  arms;  others  no  regular  form. 
The  one  in  Andromede  is  visible  to  the  naked  eye. 
The  Magellanic  clouds  are  nebulous  tracts.  There  are 
five  thousand  known  ncbulte;  one   third  of   them  give 

186698 


4  THE  WOELD-STORY 

the  spectmnn  of  gaseity;  the  rest  give  stellar  spectrums. 
All  are  within  the  limits  of  our  stellar  system.  The 
theory  that  our  solar  system  was  once  a  nebulous 
star  is  not  a  determined  part  of  science,  but  it  is  further 
supported  by  the  fact  that  there  is  a  regular  gradation 
of  density  from  the  outermost  to  the  innermost  planet; 
Saturn  is  like  cork;  Mercury  is  like  lead.  The  law  of 
relationship  between  the  size  of  a  body  and  its  period 
of  rotation  proves  that  the  siderial  year  of  either  of  the 
planets  is  the  same  as  the  period  of  rotation  that  the 
sun  would  have  if  his  mass  extended  to  the  orbit  of  that 
planet.  It  has  been  noticed  that  flecks  of  matter  sepa- 
rate from  nebulffi  that  take  a  spiral  motion,  and  follow 
on  in  their  detached  state,  suggesting  the  analogous 
form  and  movements  of  comets. 

Comets  are  nebulous  spheroids.  They  revolve  like 
planets  and  shine  like  suns.  As  they  shine  like  suns, 
it  is  a  fair  inference  that  they  are  like  suns  in  their 
form  and  character.  Suns  are  spherical,  and  this  is  the 
characterstic  of  all  worlds,  and  of  meteors,  as  well  as  of 
drops  of  dew.  The  same  laAv  that  turns  the  baby's 
tears  to  tiny  spheres,  gathers  up  the  nebulous  matter  of 
space  into  comets,  planets  and  suns. 

"Thousands  of  suns  beyond  each  other  blaze; 
Orbs  roll  o'er  orbs,  and  glow  with  mutual  rays." 

How  out  of  place  in  the  grand  realm  of  harmony  and 
symmetry,  is  the  comet,  with  his  supposed  caud^  ap- 
pendage.— 

"I  saw  a  peacock;  with  a  fiery  tail 

I  saw  a  star;  streaming  down  liail,  t*cc." 

No  wonder  that  the  ancients   fancied  them    portents 

of  pestilence  and  war,  and  that  the  nations  are  yet  filled 

with  fear, 

"When  from  the  dread  immensity  of  space, 

Eeturning  with  accelerated  course, 

The  rushing  comet  to  the  sun  descends." 


i 


ORIGIN  OF  ALL  THINGS  5 

"That's  a  fine  tail  your  horse  carries  behind  him,"  an 
Irishman  said;  and  being  asked  if  he  ever  saw  anything 
that  didn't  carry  its  tail  behind  it,  he  replied,  "Yes,  a 
cent."  If  he  had  said  a  comet,  the  wit  would  have 
•been  just  as  good;  for  that  anomalous  structure  carries 
4ts  tail  before,  behind,  or  on  either  side;  it  is  not  the  like- 
ness of  anything  in  the  heavens  above  or  on  the  earth 
])eneath.  It  is  strange  that  He  who  set  the  whirling 
worlds  in  order — tuned  the  music  of  the  spheres — 
sliould  have  sent  these  fiery  dragons  on  their  courses, 
Avith  tails  long  enough  to  "draw  the  third  part  of  heav- 


en!" 


But,  the  case  is  not  so  bad  as  it  has  been  made 
out.  It  is  only  when  the  comets  are  near  home  that 
they  play  their  fantastic  tricks;  roaming  afar,  they  are 
orderly  and — like  everything  else  in  all  the  heavens — 
round.  Comets,  then,  can,  and  do,  exist  without  tails. 
Sometimes,  in  the  evenings  of  early  winter,  the  wes- 
tern sky  is  aglow  with  a  light  that  rises  like  a  dome  al- 
most to  the  zenith.  It  is  the  Zodiacal  light;  and  as  the 
sun  has  gone  down  and  left  it -behind  him,  it  may  be 
called  his  tail. 

If  we  light  a  candle  in  a  dark  place  and  go  to  a  little 
distance  from  it,  it  seems  like  a  globe  of  light;  so  the 
distant  comet,  in  the  darker  region  of  space,  is  a  globe 
of  light.  Coming  nearer  it  would  seem  vastly  greater, 
])ut  tlic  sun  obscures  its  outer  verge;  and  instead  of  as- 
suming the  vast  dimensions  it  should,  only  a  body  of 
light  on  the  side  opposite  the  sun  is  seen,  extending  out 
to  what  should  be  the  circumference  if  the  whole  light 
could  be  seen,  but  the  sun  obscures  all  of  it  that  his  su- 
perior rays  fall  upon.  But  again,  the  body  of  the  comet 
intercepts  a  part  of  the  sun's  rays,  forming  an  umbra  or 
shadow,  and  within  this  umbra  the  comet's  proper  light 


6  THE  WORLD-STORY 

slimes,  and  being  a  different  kind  of  light,  is  perceptible, 
and  is  called  a  tail.  It  is  divergent  and  conical  like  an 
umbra;  is  regular  in  outline;  is  curved;  and  it  increases 
and  de-creases  in  length  according  to  distance  from  us. 

The  only  thing  that  we  know  of  that  always  points 
away  from  the  sun  is  a  shadow.  The  one  thing  that 
cannot  be  run  aAvay  from,  nor  overtaken  by  an  object, 
is  its  shadow.  As  the  comet  passes  around  its  perihel- 
ion, its  tail  sweeps  a  circuit  millions  of  miles  farther 
away,  but  lags  behind  only  by  a  gentle  curve.  Then  as 
the  comet  rushes  away  from  the  sun,  the  tail,  as  if  ex- 
ulting, starts  off  first. 

The  difficult  part  of  this  explanation  is  that  the  tail, 
though  a  shadow,  is  bright: — If  a  lighted  candle  be 
placed  in  the  sunlight,  it  will  be  hardly  perceptible. 
Cast  a  shadow  on  it  and  it  will  brighten.  The  light  of 
the  candle  will  be  a  part  of  this  shadow,  and  contained 
in  it;  so  shadow^s  are  not  necessarily  dark;  and  so  if  a 
shadow  could  be  cast  upon  a  comet,  it  would  brighten 
and  be  visible  clear  out  to  the  circumference  indicated 
by  the  outer  limits  of  the  tail.  The  nucleus  of  a  comet, 
only,  is  compact  matter,  capable  of  intercepting  the  sun's 
rays;  and,  as  before  stated,  what  we  see,  are  the  self- 
luminous  particles  of  comet  light,  or  nebulous  matter, 
within  the  shadow  of  the  nucleus. 

What  should  be  the  shape  of  this  supposed  shadow? 

Let  us  see.     When  the  sun  goes  down  behind  mists  on 

the  mountain  tops,  rays  of  light  and  of  shadow  are  sent 

far  out  across  the  sky.     These  streaks  of  light  alternat- 

/^ )  ing  Math  similar  streaks  of  shade,  are  the  best  repre- 

*^]  sentation  of  a  comet's  tail,  in  appearance,  that  we  know 

>l  of.     Analogy   would  point  to   a  similarity   of  causes. 

These  streaks,  both  of  light  and  shadow,  are  divergent, 

\and  are  each  a  section  of  a  sphere  whose  sides  are  radii 


<>»l 


ORIGIN  OF  ALL  THINGS  7 

with  a  point  in  the  clouds  for  a  center.  They  are  fan- 
shaped,  just  as  comets'  tails  are  sometimes  fan-shaped. 
The  shadow  of  a  mountain  thrown  across  a  plain  is 
divergent.  Applying  these  analogies,  we  would  expect 
a  shadow  behind  a  nucleus  to  stretch  far  out  on  the  sky 
in  regular  and  divergent  lines. 

A  shadow  is  greatest  when  the  object  that  makes  it  is 
nearest  the  source  of  light,  so  comets'  tails  are  longest 
at  the  perihelion,  and  disappear  at  a  distance  from  tlie 
sun;  distance  from  us  decreases  their  size,  also,  as  we 
have  seen. 

The  curvature  that  a  comet's  tail  should  have,  can  be 
determined  by  a  mathematical  calculation,  and  would 
be  a  resultant  of  the  speed  of  the  comet  and  the  speed 
of  the  particles  forming  the  tail,— or  rather  bounding  it, 
according .  to  the  theory  herein  advanced.     If  the  light 
of  a  locomotive  were  turned  sideways,  so  as  to  cast  a 
light  at  right  angles  across  a  plain  when  the  locomotive 
were  in  motion,  the  boundaries  of  that  light  would  hc\ 
curved;  imperceptibly,  but  certainly  curved,  because  it] 
would  take  time  for  the  light  to  travel  out,  and  the  loco- 
motive would  be  continually  advancing  the  source  of  >  -j^  V-h 
the  rays  of  light.     The  phenomenon  of  the  comet  is  on  )    (\A^'^'"*'^'^ 
a  vaster  scale,  and  the  curvature  is  perceptible  to  the  eye 

That  the  tail  of  a  comet  is  a  conical  segment  of  a 
sphere  of  which  the  nucleus  is  the  center  is  proved  by 
the  fact  that  elementary  convulsions — fire-storms — have 
been  seen  going  out  in  the  tails,  just  as  they  do  in  llu- 
fiery  mists  enveloping  the  sun. 

Theories — assumed  proj^ositions — are  made  use  of  in 
arriving  at  truth.  Kepler  formed  seventy  suppositions 
before  deciding  the  shape  of  planetary  orbits;  there  are 
that  many  theories  about  comets;  that  is  the  true  one 
which  is  the  simplest  that  will  cover  the  facts. 


:J 


8  THE  WORLD-STORY 

The  density  of  Jupiter  is  small;  his  internal  heat  very 
great;  the  surface  plastic,  and  red  with  heat;  has  a  gas- 
eous envelope  of  great  depth  and  pressure,  supporting 
an  outer  envelope  of  cloud-masses,  which  take  the  form 
of  broad  bands  or  belts,  corresponding  to  parallels  of 
latitude,  alternately  dark  and  bright.  Within  this  en- 
velope, rounded,  definitely  shaped  clouds  are  seen, 
changing  in  form  and  color,  and  subject  to  some  strong- 
force  that  sometimes  drives  them  all  apart,  revealing 
the  glowing  elements  beneath.  Jupiter  is  older  than 
the  earth,  but  being  larger  cools  slower  and  is  far  be- 
hind in  develoj^ment.  Jupiter  may  be  likened  to  a 
vast  egg  undergoing  the  process  of  incubation;  and 
from  it  will  be  hatched  a  sea-full  of  fishes,  marshes  full 
of  monstrous  animals,  and,  in  the  later  stages,  the  qnad- 
rumana  in  the  woods.  Nothing  may  be  just  like  the 
things  of  earth,  for  the  conditions  are  not  identical, 
but  as  the  original  elements  were  the  same  in  both  orbs, 
the  difference  of  results  can  not  be  very  great,  and  Jupi- 
ter's ultimate  product  can  not  be  other  than  the  bodies 
of  men.  Jupiter's  belts  are  equatorial  currents,  result- 
ing from  diurnal  motion. 

Saturn's  iimermost  ring  is  semi-transparent,  but  dark. 
The  inner  edge  of  the  ring  next  to  this  one  is  dark,  and 
seems  to  be  approaching  the  lower  one.  The  outer 
edge  of  this  middle  ring  is  bright.  These  bright  rings 
cast  shadows  distinguishable  from  the  inner  ring. 
These  inner  rings  not  being  solid,  it  is  presumable  that 
they  are  held  out  from  the  planet  by  heat  and  centrifu- 
gal force.  Another  effect  of  the  centrifugal  force  is, 
to  confine  the  rings  midway  between  the  poles. 

It  is  supposed  that  the  earth  and  moon  were  formerly 
one  ellipsoidal  mass;  and  the  detailed  process  is  given 
by  which    they  became,    first  two    foci  and    then    two 


ORIGIN  OF  ALL  THINGS  9 

•vrorlcls.  They  are  not  separate  now;  there  is  no  void 
space.  Light,  heat,  electricity  and  gravitation — ether 
are  substantial. 

All  worlds  are  spheroids;  the  more   plastic  they  are,  n   VjnrvJT'J^ 
the  more  they  vary  from  the  true    sphere.     The  inner-  ^ 
most  planets  are  roundest,  but  the  cusps  of  Venus  show 
an  iuden.tation  at   her  poles.     Jupiter   and  Saturn    are  t  l_ 
thus  indented,  and  are  vastly  bulged  at  the  equator. 

The  shape  of  a  revolving,  plastic  mass  being  more  or 
less  discoidal,  therefore,  as  it  solidifies  and  contracts,  the 
greatest  contraction  is  in  the  equatorial  regions;  and 
mountain  ranges  are  thus  formed  that  are  highest  at  the 
equator,  and  which  gradually  decline  in  height  toward 
the  poles, — as  do  the  mountains  of  the  earth. 

In  view  of  these  analogies,  it  is  assumed  that  the 
earth  was  once  a  fiery  spheroid  extending  indefinitely 
into  space.  It  rotated  then,  as  now;  and  was  subject 
to  the  laws  of  gravitation,  centrifugal  force,  chemical 
affinity,  polarization,  contraction,  etc.  The  outer  part 
was  etherial  and  cool;  the  inner,  denser  and  hotter. 
Heat,  gravitation  and  chemical  aftinity  stratified  the 
mobile  mass,  and  rotation  caused  currents  in  the  differ- 
ent strata.  It  is  conceivable  that  these  strata  became 
rings  and  belts,  and  that  they  retained  their  positions, 
during  long  eras,  by  the  momentum  they  had  gained 
before  they  became  detached.  The  internal  heat  was  , 
the  main  supporting  cause,  and,  as  it  decliued,  they  had  j  *- V 
no  support  but    their  rotary    motion.     They  gradually  , 

fell  behind,  as  equatorial  strata  of  air  now  do,  till  grav- 
itation prevailed  over  centrifugal  power,  and  they  IVU. 


CHAPTER  II. 


THE  world's  history  of  itself. 


Geology  takes  up  the  story  at  that  stage  of  progres- 
sion when  tlie  earth  was  encrusted  with  granite  and  en- 
veloped in  a  boiling  sea,  with  an  outer  covering  of 
clouds  and  fumes.  As  the  crystalization  of  the  ele- 
ments into  granite  took  place,  the  mass  assumed  its 
present  form.  As  there  was  no  centrifugal  force  at  the 
poles,  they  became  contracted,  and  are  dej^ressed  or 
jju.-  \'^  ''l  *4-  I  fuimel-shaped— like  the  stem  end  of  an  apple.  The 
laws  of  force  do  not  admit  of  polar  regions'  being  flat. 
No  orb  in  space  has  either  rounded  or  flattened  poles. 
When  this  fact  is  admitted  the  wonders  of  the  friarid 
zones  will  begin  to  be  realized. 
^  The  second  series  of  rocks  was  formed  by  chemical 
\-  !  combination  and  precipitation,  and  are  miles  in  thick- 
ness, with  no  particle  of  sediment.  Later  series  were 
formed  by  sedimentation  and  by  the  deposition  of  ani- 
mal remains.  All  these  classes  have,  in  places,  been 
baptized  by  fire,  rent  by  dykes,  contorted  by  pressure 
and  transferred  by  upheaval,  till  the  enigmas  of  their  his- 
tory are  innumerable.  Sea  and  air  were  vast  labrato- 
ries  in  those  early  ages.  The  gi'eat  limestone  forma- 
tions upon  which  our  principal  western  cities  stand, 
are  the  mausoleum  of  the  ancient  world;  and  we  have  a 
vision  of  the  far-away  time  ever  before  our  eyes.     Many 


\ 


THE  WORLD'S  HISTORY  OF  ITSELF  11 

species  perished  by  violence  of  nature,  by  debacles 
from  above  and  by  irruptions  from  below;  others  expir- 
ed by  limitation.  Superior  races  supplanted  less  vigor- 
ous ones,  as  they  now  do,  and  in  turn  passed  away. 
This  was,  of  course,  that  they,  too,  might  be  suceeded 
by  their  superiors;  but  all  seems  incidental,  and  the 
progressive  principle  seems  to  have  been  in  the  inorganic 
forces.  They  improved  the  conditions  of  life,  and  im- 
proved life  resulted;  and  God  was  more  immjnent  in 
the  mineral  than  in  the  animal  kingdom.  The  spiritual 
reality  was  beneath  all. 

The  oldest  part  of  the  American  continent  and  of  the 
world,  is  a  range  of  crystaline  rocks  extending  from 
the  St.  Lawrence  river  to  the  Arctic  Sea,  and  consisting 
of  trap,  gneiss  and  granite. 

Crystals  of  feldspar  sometimes  form  in  the  walls  of 
furnaces  used  for  smelting  ores.  Various  crystaline 
rocks  are  formed  by  solfataras  or  gaseous  volcanoes, 
and  also  in  fissures  that  emit  heated  gasses,  in  geysers 
and  hot  springs.  M.  Daubree  has,  by  artificial  pressure, 
produced  hydrated  silicates,  augites,  and  crystals  of 
quartz.  We  may  assert  that  at  a  time  when  the 
greater  part  of  the  elements  of  the  earth  were  in  a  mol- 
ten state,  and  surrounded  by  gasses  of  immense  depth 
and  of  great  pressure,  out  of  this  molten  mass  igneous 
and  crystaline  rocks  of  a  soft,  loose  texture  came  into 
being  by  the  laws  of  crystalization;  and,  after  a  crust 
was  formed,  the  crystalization  went  on  beneath  the 
crust.  It  is  a  question  whether  crystaline  rocks  can 
form  when  unconfined,  but,  after  the  formation  of  the 
first  precipitated  rocks  under  the  sea,  the  required 
conditions  obtained,  and  the  formation  of  tliis  class  of 
rocks  was  possible. 

That  gneiss  was  formed  in  nothing  hotter  than  water 


i 


1 


12  THE  WORLD-RTOEY 

is  proved  by  the  fact  that  it  in  some  places  contains 
cinnabar,  which  is  readily  volatilized.  The  various  ig- 
neous rocks,  classified  under  many  names,  got  their  diff- 
erent characteristics  from  the  amount  or  pfessure  un- 
der rocks  or  sea  in  which  they  formed.  Rocks  buried 
at  great  depths  became  homogeneous,  plastic  and  subject 
to  crystalization  and  to  cle_avage,  which  is  a  result 
of  crystalization.  Stratified  rocks  thus  buried  retain 
their  stratification,  although  so  changed  that  all  traces 
of  life  are  obliterated. 

The  fact  that  the  central  core  of  the  principal  mount- 
ain ranges  is  granite,  that  has  upheaved  and  protruded 
through  the  metamorphic  strata,  proves  that  the  latter 
were  formed  and  in  place  before  the  granite  took  its 
present  conical  outlines  and,  possibly,  before  it  was 
formed.  The  history  will  never  be  all  unraveled. 
The  labratory  out  of  which  came  the  mineral  and  gas- 
eous compounds,  was  too  vast  for  human  inspection. 
The  search  for  the  key  to  the  mystery  of  creation  is  as 
futile  as  Avas  the  search  for  the  philosopher's  stone. 

Crystals  of  the  red  oxide  of  copper  were  recently 
found  in  the  mud  beneath  the  old  Roman  baths  in  the 
department  of  Haute  Marne,  France,  formed  by  the  ac- 
tion of  hot  water  on  bronze  implements.  Copper  pyri- 
tes was  found  in  the  same  deposit,  various  ores  of 
lead  formed  from  the  lead  pipes  used  in  the  baths,  and 
pyrites  of  iron  formed  from  the  iron  bolts  and  imple- 
ments. This  accounts  for  the  presence  of  these  ores  in 
the  Laurentian  rocks.  When  the  earth  was  flame, 
the  metals  were  part  of  the  flame;  when  there  was  only 
light,  they  were  in  the  light,  and  when  the  elements 
became  liquid  the  metals  were  held  in  solution  ,and  some 
of  them  were  transferred  to  the  rocks — as  at  Dubuque, 
Lake  Superior  and  Iron  Mountain. 


THE  "WORLD'S  HISTORY  OF  ITSELF  1.". 

This  chemical  process  of  extracting  mineral  sub- 
stances from  sea  and  air  was  a  clarifying  operation,  ami 
there  came  a  time  wlieu  light  from  without  began  to 
permeate  the  primeval  darkness,  and  the  atmosphere 
Avas  formed  between  the  waters  on  tlie  earth  and  tlie 
belts  and  rings  above  it. 

During  the  early  Laureutian  period  the  lands  were 
low  and  limited;  the  continents  were  in  embryo. 

Vegetable  life  preceeded  animal  life,  but  the  difference 
in  the  time  of  the  beginning  of  the  march  of  these  two 
grand  divisions  of  organized  beings,  culminating  in  man 
and  the  fruits  and  flowers  that  sustain  and  cheer  him, 
need  not  have  been  more  than  the  span  of  the  life  of  a 
single  sea  weed.  Both  kinds  of  life  originated  in  the 
sea;  or,  if  the  rocky,  drenched  earth  produced  an  earlier 
form,  it  has  not  come  down  through  the  torrent  tide  of 
time.  Rhizopod  is  the  title  of  the  leader  in  the  van 
of  animal  life.  He  hails  us  out  of  the  depths  of  the 
Laurentian  and  from  beneath  a  trillion  of  dead  years. 
lie  has  had  to  Avait  a  good  while  for  this  friendly 
recognition.  His  kinsman,  the  moner  of  the  present 
day,  is  a  microscopic  mite  that  feeds  by  absorption, 
and  puts  out  threads  to  move  with;  and,  when  the  occa- 
sion for  their  use  has  passed,  they  fade  away. 

It  is  as  useless  to  speculate  upon  the  origin  of  the  least, 
as  it  is  of  the  greatest,  animals.  The  mi\roscope  reveals  a  (*A 
Morld  of  beings  that  has  no  limit  but  llie  power  of  optical 
instruments  to  disclose  them.  They  are  on  and  within 
all  visible  tilings,  air,  eai'th,  water  and  organisms;  and 
arc  the  evil  spirits  of  epidemic  disease.  Xo  experiment 
has  resulted  in  the  production  of  life.  No  new  form  of 
life  has  come  into  existence  since  man  learned  to  observe, 
and  none  since    man,  himself,    was  formed.     This  is  a 


14  THE  WORLD-STORY 

rest  day.  And  no  instance  is  discoveraable  of  one  spe- 
cies having  passed  into,  or  produced  another. 

The  sun-dew  plant  feeds  on  insects,  and  the  victims 
of  the  plant's  carnal  proclivities  are  forthwith  decom- 
posed in  gastric  juice.  These  indelicate  plants  droop 
and  mope  when  they  do  not  get  their  regular  allotment 
of  flies;  and  those  fed  on  roast  beef  thrive  above  their 
fellows.  Peptones,  which  are  formed  by  gastric  juice 
in  the  digestive  organs  of  animals,  have  been  found  in 
the  lowest  of  the  protophytes, — the  yeast  plant;  further- 
more, the  process  of  excretion  takes  place  in  this  plant. 
On  the  other  hand,  planarians  are  vegetating,  starch- 
^trf  .  forming,  oxygen-kihaling  animals.     There  is  no    divid- 

!  ing  line  between  the  great  kingdoms,  and  man  must  be 

traced  a  stasje  further  down  and  back;  and  if  there  be 
such  thing  as  evolution,  not  the  least  wonderful  stage 
would  be  the  growth  of  fungi  from  earthy  matter.  It 
is  asserted  that  there  was  a  single  point  in  time  when 
spontaneus  generation  was  possible, — a  time  not  defin- 
ed. The  subject  of  evolution  is  vast  in  its  ramifica- 
tions; a  fair  rendition  of  all  the  known  facts  (and  all 
likely  to  be  discovered  will  not  change  it)  should  be, 
Creation  Amid  Evolution. 

It  is  by  the  imbedded  forms  of  progressive  life 
that  the  ages  of  the  rocks  are  known;  and  as  different 
types  had  very  diverging  ranges  in  the  same  era,  as 
well  as  very  different  periods  of  endurance,  the  evidence 
is  not  absolute.  The  presence  of  particular  fossils  is 
not  always  evidence  of  the  exact  age  if  a  deposit,  but 
association  of  fossils  and  formations  is  the  test.  If 
the  leaves  of  a  work  in  many  volumes  should  be  torn 
and  scattered,  they  could  not  be  replaced  by  the  numbers 
of  the  leaves,  alone,  for  the  numbers  would  represent 
different  volumes,  so  that  it  it   would  be  necessary  to 


THE  WORLD'S  HISTORY  OF  ITSELF  15 

get  the  sense  of  the  writing,  and  then  an  expert  coukl  put 
together  the  torn  leaves.  The  layers  of  rocks  are  all 
numbered,  and  all  tell  parts  of  the  same  story,  and  have 
a  regular  succession,  but  they  are  scattered  all  over  the 
earth;  and  in  no  place  are  they  all  piled  up  one  above 
the  other  in  their  order,  but  are  distributed  in  volumes, 
chapters,  sections, and,  in  places,  single  leaves. 

A  monumental  pile  upon  the  roadway  of  the  eternal 
ages,  is  the  Coal  Formation.  It  divides  geological  histo- 
ry into  two  parts.  Before  that  period  there  were  no 
climatic  zones;  all  was  torrid  heat.  Animal  life  Avas 
almost  exclusively  confined  to  the  sea,  and  was  adapted 
to  its  heat.  The  sun  had  not  penetrated  the  gloom  of 
the  abounding  exhalations  of  that  twilight  time.  The 
air,  though  hot,  was  heavy  because  of  its  height,  and 
because  made  dense  by  fumes  and  vapors.  It  stimula- 
ted a  prodigeous  vegetation.  Great  spaces  of  marsh 
land  werecovered  with  ferns,  calamites,  sigillarias,  and 
lepidendrons.  Gree^and  and  Guinea,  Melville  Island 
and  Central  Africa,  all   wore  the  same  pale-green  attire. 

The  formation  of  coal  seems,  also,  to  have  been  fortu- 
itous, and  the  causes  as  accidental  as  the  formation  of  a 
sand  bank  by  the  road-side  after  a  rain;  but  a  thorough 
study  of  the  history  enforces  the  stupendous  conclusion 
that  nothing  was,  or  is,  accidental.  Purpose  is  evident 
in  every  part;  is  seen  in  the  first  stages  of  development, 
and  is  further  illustrated  and  confirmed  at  each  suc- 
ceeding stathmus.  The  lesson  of  each  page  of  the  sto- 
ty  is:  The  earth  is  being  prepared  for  man. 

If  the  coal  was  made  for  man,  the  corollary  of  the 
proposition  would  seem  to  be  that  man  will  use  it; 
that  he  will  continue  using  it  till  it  is  no  longer  avail- 
ale;  i.  e.  that  he  has  an  indefinite  lease  of  the  earth  in 
its  present  state;  but  God  is  not  concluded   in  the  de- 


.\\f 


n- 


16  THE  WORLD-STORY 

ductions  of  logic.  The  coal  may  be  again  transformed, 
and  serve  some  future,  higher  use  in  the  divine  economy; 
or  it  may  go  to  waste,  as  we  see  seeming  waste  in  every 
department  of  nature.  We  see  but  little;  there  may 
not  bo  any  waste;  the  myriad  forests  that  perished 
Avithout  making  coal  but  bridged  the  way  to  some- 
thing better. 

In  the  New  Red  Sandstone  are  found  footprints  of 
,  V  (  colossal  birds  and  the  angular  marks  of  frost,  but  not  m 
the  same  laminae  together.  This  proves  that  there  had 
come  a  change  of  seasons  in  the  valley  of  the  Connect- 
icut, and  that  the  birds  went  south  in  winter.  The 
earth  was  cooling  down. 

Man  can  say  with  perfect  assurance,  that,  at  a  certain 
era,  an  animal  of  a  certain  size,  shape  and  habit,  walked 
along  the  margin  of  a  certain  sea,  when  the  wind  was 
blowing  from  a  certain  quarter,  and  rain  drops  fell  with 
1^  a  c^tain  force  and  frequency,  from  clouds  in  a  certain 
part  of  the  sky;  all  this,  a  million  years  ago;  but,  ques- 
tioned as  to  many  seemingly  simple  phenomena,  he  has 
to  answer,  "Canst  thou  by  searching  find  out  the  Al- 
mighty to  perfection?" 

The  Jurassic,  was  the  age  of  most  wonderful  reptiles. 
The  Cretaceous  followed;  it  is  two  thousand  feet  thick. 
The  lands  were  still  low.  Throughout  the  cycles  of 
time,  incalculable,  the  sea  had  flowed  where  now  great 
mountains  rise;  but  the  slow,  incessant  forces  had 
wrought  a  mighty  change.  The  Pyrenees,  Alps,  Him- 
alayas, and  Andes,  had  risen  from  their  lairs.  The 
process  was  simple:  the  earth  cooled,  shrank  and  shriv- 
eled— the  srata,  crowded  together  edgeways,  was  sub- 
jected to  folding  or  plication.  The  main  ranges  seem 
to  have  been  lifted  up  as  plateaus,  and  erosion  has  given 
them  much  of  their  abrupt  appeartnc^: 


THE  AVORLD'S  HISTORY  OF  ITSELF  17 

The  strata  forming  the  Sierra  Nevada  Mountains 
represent  mesozoic  time, — the  middle  of  the  work-days 
of  creation,  the  period  most  prolific  of  animal  life — yet 
they  are,  in  Northern  California,  almost  barren  of  re- 
mains. Only  in  Plumas  County  on  the  north,  and  Mari- 
posa on  the  south,  are  found  a  few  triassic  fossils  that  es- 
caped obliteration  when  the  rocks  were  undergoing  trans- 
formation by  heat.  Though  miles  in  thickness,  these  rocks 
have  been  raised  to  a  height  of  10,000  feet,  and  stood 
on  edo^e  asrainst  the  arranite  core  that  forms  the  center 
of  the  range.  During  the  time  of  their  metamorphosis 
and  upheaval  they  became  interjected  with  seams  and 
dikes  of  auriferous  quartz,  making  them  the  great  gold 
field  of  the  world. 

Both  sides  of  the  Sierras  have  the  same  formation,  with 
corresponding  inclination  to  the  central  core.  On  the 
east  side  of  the  range,  within  the  boundaries  of  Nevada, 
stands,  as  a  separate  foraiation,  a  syenitic  peak  called 
Mt.  Davidson.  When  it  came  up  it  lifted  up  on  its 
eastern  side  a  vast  bed  of  propylite  rock,  which  differs 
from  granite  by  having  its  crystals  embedded  in  a  paste 
that  is  not  crystaline.  Where  the  propylite  and  syenite 
met,  the  faces,  kept  apart  by  irregularities  of  surface, 
left  an  opening  reaching  down  into  the  heated  earth. 
As  the  moutain  pushed  up,  the  fissure  widened  in  places 
to  an  extreme  of  two  hundred  feet;  and  extended  north 
and  south  eight  or  ten  miles.  As  it  reached  down  to 
the  heated  region,  it  was  filled  with  vapoi-s  and  gases.  | 
From  these  fumes,  crystals  of  quartz  soon  formed  on  the 
sides  of  the  fissure,  and  began  the  process  of  filling  up 
the  cavity  with  the  various  ores  of  silver  and  gold;  viz. 
silver  glance,  stephenite,  polybasite,  galena,  pyrargyr- 
ite,  horn-silver,  sternbergite,  zino-blend,  and  pyrites. 
After  the  fissure  was  filled  the  svenite  peak  continued  to 


I 


18  THE  WORLD-STORY 

rise,  crushing  the  quartz,  and  smoothing  the  walls  of  the 
vein.  The  whole  top  of  the  vein  and  adjoining  propyl- 
ite  broke  off,  and  fell  back  from  the  syenite  to  an  angle 
of  45  degrees.  The  propylite  wasted  away  by  erosion, 
and  the  hard  quartz  and  walls  of  the  vein  were  left 
standing  up  as  hills  and  cliffs  of  quartz,  with  masses  of 
rich  ore  in  sight  without  digging.  This  was  found, 
in  recent  times,  and  followed  down  to  the  break,  and 
there  the  lead  appeared  to  terminate;  but  further  explo- 
ration proved  that  it  continued,  at  a  reverse  angle,  down 
the  slope  of  the  syenite,  thousands  of  feet;  and  the 
world  is  filled  with  the  fame  of  the  Comstock  Lode. 
The  formation  of  the  Comstock  occurred  in  the  Miocene 

Era.    ' 

The  Miocene  is  prominent  for  other  events  than  the 
stocking  of  the  world  with  precious  metals,  preparatory 
to  the  advent  of  man.  In  that  era,  over  vast  areas,  and 
within  the  Arctic  Zone,  grew  the  Sequoia  Giga^ite^,  the 
greatest  trees  that  now  have  representatives  on  the 
earth.  Beeches,  oaks,  poplars,  planes,  limes,  walnuts, 
and  magnolias  luxuriated  within  the  North  Polar  circle. 
Spitzbergen  was  still  a  garden  of  delight,  containing 
ninty-five  species  of  plants.  Animal  life  was  also  abun- 
dant then.  Tortoises  were  tAventy  feet  long,  and  sloths 
were  as  large  as  rhinoceroses.  Elephants  were  numerous, 
and  horses  ran  in  herds. 

The  French  have  found  flints  of  the  Miocene  Age, 
and  think  that  man  lived  at  that  time.  Some  American 
Professors  do  not  question  the  character  of  the  imple- 
ments, but  attribute  their  origin  to  the  skill  of  extinct 
monkeys.  This  is  for  the  sake  of  consistency.  The 
implements  were  made  before  any  mammalian  species 
now  living  was  in  existence;  therefore  the  implements 
had  to  be  attributed  to  an  extinct  species;  the   highest 


THE  WORLD'S  HISTORY  OF  ITSELF  19 

of  those  extinct  species  were  monkeys;  therefore,  monk- 
ies  made  the  implements.  This  is  logical  demonstra- 
tion; but,  considering  the  character  of  many  so-called 
palaeolithic  implements,  it  must  be  said  to  be  an  indignity 
upon  the  monkeys.  The  situation  is  ludicrous;  but  sci- 
ence never  laughs;  .the  scientific  mood  is  eminently 
placid. 


CHAPTER  III. 


ELDORADO. 


Soil  lias  accumulated;  rivers,  lakes,  valleys  and  for- 
ests diversify  the  landscape.  Man's  abode  seems  wait- 
ing for  him.     Is  he  here? 

Turning  our  attention  again  to  California,  and  to 
Sierra  and  adjoining  counties  more  especially,  we  find 
that  where  now  basaltic  peaks  and  ridges  10,000  feet 
high,  form  the  high  tops  of  the  Sierra  Nevadas,  was 
once  an  extended  valley,  coursed  by  numerous  streams. 
Palm  groves  lined  the  banks;  these  were  Time's  ther- 
mometers, to  indicate  the  stage  of  the  cooling  process 
we  have  watched.  Abounding  animal  life  was  there. 
The  era  was  the  pliocene.  Human  relics  are  reported; 
but,  with  the  rigid  care  her  canons  require,  science  hes- 
itates to  pass  judgment  in  a  controversy  wherein  so  much 
is  involved.  Beneath  the  bright  waters  of  those  streams, 
were  beds  of  gravel  hundreds  of  feet  deep,  all  quartz, 
rounded  and  polished,  and  nearly  all  white.  The  diff- 
erent strata  of  bright  white  and  blue  gravel  alternated 
with  beds  of  uariegated  clay;  and,  though  buried  from 
the  light,  were  as  beautiful  as  "as  if  day  in  its  pride  had 
arrayed  them;"  and  intermixed  with  all  this  gravel,  was 
gold — golden  sands  and  grains  of  gold,  and,  at  the 
bottom,  huge  boulders,   and   masses  of    gold. 


ELDORADO  21 

Was  there  no  song  of  cotters  in  those  mountain  dells? 

And  o'er  those  waters  came  no  chime  of  bells? 
Music   was   there,    for  its  echo  lingers,   after  all   the 
millenniums  of  years. 

Surely,  this  must  have  been  the  true  Garden  of  Hes- 
perides?  The  imaginative  youths  who  opened  Illinois 
Ridge,  where  the  grass  roots  held  clustering  spangles 
of  gold,  where  the  deep  beds  of  glistening  gravel  were 
interspersed  with  shining  particles,  and  nuggets  lined 
the  slaty  bed,  used  to  fancy  it  the  channel  of  the  veri- 
table Pison  that  compassed  the  Land  of  Ilavilah,  "the 
gold  of  which  land  is  good."  The  scenery,  of  sleeping 
woods  and  hazy  mountains,  impelled  the  local  poets  to 
rhymed  expression,  and  one  of  them  has  left  a  memento 
of  the  scenery  and  himself,  beginning: 

"Like  birds  the  fleecy  summer  clouds 
Around  thy  hoary  summit  flock, 
And  morning  rolls  the  misty  shrouds, 
O'er  thy  cold  temples;  Table  Rock." 

The  geoloQfists  of  that  time  said  there  were  four  of 
these  old  Edenic  river-beds.  They  seem  united  at 
the  north,  running  under  Washington  Hill  and  Pilot 
Peak.  From  under  this  peak  they  separate,  and  one 
follows  the  course  of  the  ridge  southwest  to  Bald  Moun- 
tain, where  a  branch  turns  off  to  Illinois  Ridge.  The 
other  main  channel  passes  from  Pilot  Peak  southward, 
under  Fir  Cap  and  Saddle  Back,  to  Table  Rock,  where 
it  divides,  the  main  stream  continuing  southward  through 
many  famous  mining  localities,  to  Table  Mountain  in 
Tuolumne  County.  Where  else  on  earth,  or  under 
earth,  is  there  another  such  river  system,  or  the  relics  of 
one?  It  seems  an  ideal  realm,  and  not  as  pertaining  to 
ordinary  life,  but  mystical  as  old-time  memories  of 
Eden. 


22  THE  WORLD-STORY 

Geologically  speaking,  the  pebbles  of  these  beds 
under  consideration,  were  formed  f ropi  veins  in  rocks  like 
those  that  are  now  their  bed,  but  from  a  source  farther 
north  that  can  not  be  determined,  by  streams  that  crossed 
what  are  now  the  main  ridges  running  out  westward 
from  the  axis  of  the  range.  They  were  swift  flowing 
streams,  else  the  gravel  would  not  be  so  clear  and  clean. 
Silicified  wood  is  frequently  encountered — relics  of  the 
forests  primeval , destined  to  endure  unto  "the  last  syllable 
of  recorded  time." 

The  ancient  drama,  whatever  it  was,  closed  with  a 
pyrotechnic  display  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  the 
planet.  One  old  volcano,  Lassen's  Peak,  is  visible  to 
the  northward  a  hundred  miles.  By  it,  and  other  ones 
not  known,  the  old  river  system  was  buried,  throughout 
its  whole  extent,  under  a  thousand  feet  of  basalt,  ashes, 
boulders,  etc.  Since  this  great  cataclysm  there  have 
been  others  almost  as  great,  of  glacial  ice  and  flood,  and 
the  deposits  of  gravel  and  basalt  have  been  intersected 
by  deep  canyons,  and  subjected  to  enormous  denuda- 
tion; and  by  their  disintegration  newer  and  shallower 
deposits  of  like  character  have  been  formed,  at  lower 
altitudes  and  in  warmer  zones.  In  these  later  deposits 
the  relics  of  man  and  his  associate  extinct  animals  have 
been  found  in  undoubted  profusion;  but  no  account 
seems  to  have  been  taken  of  the  difference  of  age  be- 
tween the  two  kinds  of  gravel  beds.  The  accounts  are 
confused  and  conclusions  necessarily  uncertain. 

There  is  no  philosophic  reason  why  man  should  not 
have  lived  on  the  earth  in  Pliocene  time,  together  with 
monkeys  and  high-class  quadrupeds;  it  is  simply  a  matter 
of  fact,  to  be  determined  by  relies. 

All  that  is  said  of  the  discovery  of  the  bones  of  ex- 
tinct animals  in  connection  with  human  relics,  may  be 


ELDORADO  23 

passed  over.  The  elephant  that  lived  in  Pliocene  time, 
also  lived  in  the  Champlain  era;  the  question  should  be 
as  to  which  end  of  an  extinct  auinial's  career  man  came 
in  contact  with.  These  associate  animals  in  California, 
are  the  mammoth,  horse,  elephant,  camel  and  tapir.  The 
human  relics  are  bones,  discoidal  stones,  mortars,  pes- 
tles, shuttles  and  metates;  the  places  where  found  in- 
clude the  whole  mining  area. 

There  are  numerous  accounts  of  the  finding  of  giants' 
remains  in  California,  but  they  are  not  definite;  the 
same  must  be  said  of  the  report  of  the  finding  of  a  hu- 
man collar-bone  in  the  Blue  Lead  at  a  depth  of  a 
thousand  feet. 

The  most  interest  and  importance  attaches  to  the  dis- 
coveries made  at  various  times  in  the  mining  tunnels 
and  shafts  which  penetrate  Table  Mountain.  In  1858 
a  stone  mortar  holding  two  quarts,  was  found  there  at  a 
depth  of  three  hundred  feet.  In  1862,  another  mortar 
was  found  at  a  depth  of  three  hundred  and  forty  feet,  in 
a  bed  of  gravel  superimposed  by  one  hundred  and  four 
feet  of  lava,  and  eighteen  hundred  feet  from  the  mouth 
of  the  tunnel.  In  the  same  year,  at  the  same  time,  and 
in  the  same  mountain,  a  shuttle  was  found. 

In  1857,  Dr.  C.  E.  Winslow  sent  to  the  Boston  Natu- 
ral History  Society  a  human  cranium,  found  in  the 
pay  dirt,  in  connection  with  bones  of  the  mastodon  and 
elephant,  one  hundred  and  eighty  feet  below  the  surface 
of  this  same  mountain;  and  Mr.  Foster,  in  Prehistoric 
Races,  says  of  it:  "Dr.  Winslow  has  described  to  me  all 
the  particulars  in  reference  to  the  find,  and  there  is  no 
doubt  in  his  mind,  that  the  remains  of  man  and  the 
great  quadrupeds  were  deposited  contemporaneously." 

The  celebrated  Calaveras  skull  was  found,  at  a  depth 
of  one  hundred  and  thirty  feet,  beneath  seven  strata   of 


\ 


24  THE  WORLD-STORY 

lava  and  gravel,  in  a  mining  shaft  at  Altaville,  Calave- 
ras County.  Mr.  Cronin  says  many  stone  mortars  and 
mastodon  bones  have  been  found  in  this  region,  but 
not  under  lava.  Mr.  Foster  describes  the  formation  in 
which  the  skull  was  found,  as  follows; 

(1)  Black  lava,  40  feet;  (2)  gravel,  3  feet;  (3)light  lava,  30  feet; 
(4)  gravel,  5  feet;  (5)  light  lava,  15  feet  (6)  gravel,  25  feet;  (7) 
dark  brown  lava,  9  feet;  (8)  gravel,  in  which  the  skull  was 
found,  5  feet;  (9)  red  lava,  4  feet;.  (10)  red  gravel,  7  feet.  This 
skull  [says  Mr.  F.], admitting  its  authenticity,  carries  hack  the 
advent  of  man  to  the  Pliocene  Epoch,  and  is  therefore  older 
than  the  stone  implements  of  Abbeville  and  Ameins,  or  the 
relics  of  Belgian  caves. 

The  question  has  many  difficulties    and  we   will    call 
Professor  Whitney,  himself,  to  the  stand: 

"During  the  Pliocene,  California  and  Oregon  became  the  the- 
ater of  the  most  tremenduous  volcanic  activity  that  has  devasta- 
ted the  surface  of  the  globe.  The  valleys  of  the  rivers  in  the 
Sierra  were  filled,  and  much  of  the  country,  particularly  toward 
the  north  of  California,  was  entirely  buried  in  lava  and  ashes. 
Since  then  the  rivers,  seeking  new  channels,  have  made  for 
themselves  deep  canyons,  leaving  their  old  beds  deeply  buried 
under  the  lava.  These  old  buried  river  gravels  are  very  rich  in 
gold,  and  extensive  tunneling  into  the  sides  of  the  mountains  and 
under  the  old  lavas  has  been  done.  In  one  of  these  old  river 
bottoms,  under  the  solid  basalt  of  Table  INIountain,  many  works 
of  human  hands  have  been  obtained,  as  well  as  the  celebrated 
human  skull  of  the  Pliocene,  now  so  well  known  in  connec- 
tion with 'Brown  of  Calaveras.'  The  age  of  these  deposits  un- 
der the  lavas,  is  known  to  be  Pliocene,  on  account  of  the  remains 
of  the  contemporaneously  buried  flora  and  fauna,  which  were 
almost  totally  unlike  the  flora  and  fauna  of  California  at  the 
present  time.  That  the  skull  was  found  in  those  old,  intact, 
cemented  gravels,  has  been  abundantly  proved  by  evidence 
that  cannot  be  gainsaid.  At  the  time  it  came  into  the  speaker's 
hands,  the  skull  was  still  imbedded,  in  a  great  measure,  in  the 
original  gravelly  matrix.  In  this  condition  it  was  taken  by 
him  to  Cambridge,  where,  under  his  charge,  and  in  the  presence 


ELDORADO  25 

of  Professor  Jeffries  "Wyman,  of  Harvard  University,  and  Pro- 
fessor ^y.  H.  Brewer,  of  Yale  College,  the  imbedding  matrix 
was  chiseled  away.  In  and  about  the  skull  were  found  other 
human  bones,  including  some  that  must  have  belonged  to  an 
infont.  Chemical  analysis  shows  that  it  is  a  true  fossil,  its  or- 
ganic matter  being  almost  entirely  lost,  and  the  phosphate  of 
lime  replaced  by  carbonate  of  lime.  So  far  as  human  and  geo- 
logical testimony  can  go,  there  is  no  question  but  that  the  skull 
was  found  under  Table  Mountain,  and  is  of  Pliocene  age." — 
•  [Cambridge,  1878. 

"I  am  ready  to  admit  that  man — probably  Mongoloid  man — 
wandered  in  California  before  the  mighty  peaks  of  the  Sierra 
Nevada  or  the  Cordilleras  were  upheaved;  before  the  cataracts 
of  the  Yosemite  or  the  Yellow  Stone  began  to  flow;  before  the 
glaciers  carried  their  rubble  and  i>recious  minerals  into  the  low- 
lands, and  even  before  the  vast  canyons  were  split  through  the 
solid  rock." — "Winxhell. 

"From  the  stand  point  of  the  development  theory  (and  by 
this  we  do  not  mean  evolution,  but  that  progression  which 
takes  place  when  a  savage  advances  from  his  low  state  toward 
civilization),  the  evidences  are  abundant  that  man  is  older  by 
far  on  the  western  side  of  the  continent  and  perhaps  in  the 
Northwest,  than  elsewhere  in  the  New  World." — Short. 

"That  we  can  get  back  as  far  as  the  Epoch  of  the  drift  is,  I 
think,  beyond  any  rational  question  or  doubt;  that  may  be  re- 
garded as  something  settled;  but  when  it  comes  to  a  question  as 
to  the  evidence  of  tracing  man  back  farther  than  that — and  re- 
collect drift  is  only  the  scum  of  the  earth's  surface — I  must  con- 
fess thatto  my  mind  the  evidence  is  of  veiy dubious  character." 

— [HUXLEV. 

The  ijravel  beds  under  which  human  remains  have  been 
found  in  California,  are  incomparably  deeper  than  in 
other  places.  There  only,  Avere  a  people  and  their  domes- 
tic utensils  overwhelmed  by  a  cataclysm  that  changed 
the  face  of  nature.  AVhatever  may  be  said  of  relics  else- 
whei-e,  these  are  relics  of  Antediluvians.  It  is  not  nec- 
essary to  this  conclusion  that  the  relics  be  called  Plio- 
cene; it  is  enough  that  they  preceded  the  cataclysms  of 


26  THE  WORLD-STORY 

fire  and  flood,  and  the  formation,  by  erosion,  of  the 
Stanislaus.  Nor  does  the  belief  in  the  extreme  an- 
tiquity of  the  relics  depend  upon  the  genuineness  of  the 
Calaveras  skull;  for,  leaving  that  out,  the  other  relics 
make  up  a  case  that  must  revolutionize  the  thought  of 
the  world.  We  have  the  unqualified  assertion  of  the 
Chief  of  the  Geological  Survey,  that,  in  one  of  the  old 
river-bottoms,  under  the  solid  basalt  of  Table  Moun- 
tain, many  works  of  human  hands  have  been  obtained. 
Mr.  Cronise,  in  Mineral  Wealth  of  California,  says: 

"That  where  the  Stanislaus  now  runs  there  was  a  mass  of 
mountains,  is  not  a  matter  of  speculation,  for  this  lava-flow  is 
seen  to  have  crossed  the  present  valley  of  the  Stanislaus  at  Ab- 
bey's Ferry,  and  must  have  followed  the  course  of  an  ancient 
channel.  It  follows,  that  since  the  ancient  valley  was  thus 
tilled  with  the  volcanic  mass,  that  an  amount  of  denudation, 
not  less  than  three  or  four  thousand  feet,  has  taken  place  with- 
in the  most  recent  geological  period.    ******** 

[Table  Mountain  is]  "a  vast  lava  flow  from  the  lofty  volcanic 
region  beyond  the  Big  Trees  of  Calaveras.  It  forms  a  nearly  un- 
broken ridge  on  the  north  side  of  the  Stanislaus,  two  thousand 
feet  or  more  above  the  river." 

It  is  the  number  of  the  discoveries  that  makes  any 
sinsrle  one  credible,  and  the  number,  also,  of  the  locali- 
ties  of  the  same  kind  of  discoveries  that  makes  a  dis- 
covery in  any  one  particular  locality  credible.  The 
only  reason  Mr.  Winchell  can  find  for  discrediting  the 
account  concerning  the  "skull  in  the  gold  drift"  is  that 
it  is  "not  inferior  to  that  of  existing  races;"  but  he  adds 
that  "we  can  not  counterpoise  observation  with  presump- 
tion." This  presumption,  however,  does  not  apply  to  the 
assertion  that  "in  and  about  the  skull  were  found  other 
human  bones,  including  some  that  must  have  belonged 
to  an  infant."  Whatever  the  geological  age  of  these 
relics,  they  throw  confusion  upon  the  hitherto  accepted 


ELDORADO.  27 

archieological  Ages.  These  immeasurably  oldest  imple- 
ments are  neolithic — if  the  term  still  has  any  meaning, 
— and  represent  a  condition  when  cereals  were  cultivated, 
and  ground  on  hand  mills,  and  baked  into  bread  and 
cakes. 

It  would  be  a  relief  to  the  mind  to  be  able  to  connect 
these  relics  with  the  buried  and  time-worn  ruins  of  the 
adjacent  desert-lands,  but  it  can  not  be  done. 


CHAPTER  lY. 


THE    CRADLE    LAND 


The  continents  come  near  together  at  the  North,  but 
terminate  in  wide  seas  at  the  South.     As  the  poles,  by 
the    process    of  cooling,    first  became    adapted    to    the 
growth  of  the  vegetation  of  the  temperate  zones,  it  is  a 
reasonable  supposition  that  such  vegetation  began  there. 
Such  is  the  case  concerning  the  north  polar  region;  but 
if  such  vegetation  originated  at  the  South  Pole  also,  it 
perished  there  for  want  of  contiguous  lands  to  propagate 
it.     The   authorities    agree    that  the    great,  aggressive 
faunas  and  floras   began   their  wondrous  careers  in  the 
Arctic  lands,  and  have  radiated  from  there  by  land  and 
",  sea,  by  wind  and  current,  to  the  remotest  places,  through 
all  altitudes  and  zones.     The  varied  fauna   of  the   Eo- 
cene originated  there,  and  Nova   Zembla  and    Spitzber- 
iren  were  Edens  of  luxuriance  in  Miocene   time.     For 
these  reasons  some  authors  contend   that  Paradise  was 
at  the  North  Pole.     They  attempt   to  account  for   its 
loss,  by  the  supposition  that  a  Miocene  continent  sunk 
where  now  in  silence  sleeps  the  Polar  Sea.     It  is  not  very 
brilliant  logic  that  makes  man  originate  on    a    supposi- 
tious continent  that  suppositiously  sunk  some  tens    of 
thousands  of   years    before   his    advent    on    the    earth. 
These  same  authors  assert  that  the  desolating   coldness 
set  in  at  the  north  about   the  middle    of  the    Miocene. 
That  makes  the  case  discomforting,  even    if  the   conti- 
nent did  not  sink;  but,  in  reality  there  was  no  such  dis- 


THE  CRADLE  LAND  29 

tressing  dilemma,  and  there  was  never  a  necessity  that 
men  and  plants  and  animals  should  originate  at  the  same 
place,  for  the  reason  that  they  did  not  originate  at  the 
same  time.  Vegetation  and  animal  life  had  been  spread- 
ing over  all  lands  a  million  years  (in  round  numbers),  be- 
fore man  came  npon  the  scene;  and,  if  the  starting  place 
had  not  sunk,  nor  the  climate  changed,  still,  it  was  not 
necessary  to  set  man  back  of  a  million  years  of  advan- 
tageous development. 

These  same  philosophers  who  have  everything  come 
out  of  the  north,  profess  to  think  that  infant,  primitive 
man  was  nursed  by  the  pithycns    family    of   apes;    but 
as  this  ancestral  family  were  warm  blooded   and   could 
not  endure  even  a  temperate  climate,  it  is  inconsiderate 
to  place  them  so  far  north  at  such  a  time.      In    contem- 
plation of  this  state  of  things  another  school  of  philos- 
ophers, more  commiserative,  place  the  progenitors  in  a  ge- 
nial clime.     Their  cradle  land  was  an  island    in  the  In- 
dian Ocean:  sunk,  too;  but  that  is    indicative  of    broad 
and  comprehensive  views  and  generalizations;  and,    be- 
sides, it  saves  the  inconvenience  of    needing   to    search 
for  relics.     It  causes  an    unrestful    feeling   to    contem- 
plate the  situation  of  our  first   parents'    primeval,  polar 
abode,  in  the    cheerlessness  of  chilly  whiteness,  and  the 
desolateness  of   Cimmerian  darkness;  but    it   is  no  less 
distracting  to  turn,  in  thonght,    to  that    Indian    island, 
now  "in  the  deep  bosom  of  the    ocean    buried."       This 
land  that  was,  and  is  not,  is  famed  at  last,    and    named 
Lemuria.     Those  men  who  fall  upon  the  neck  of  Pithy- 
cns, in  filial  fondness,  make  a  mistake.    The  high-priests 
of  Natural  Selection    and    Fortuitous   Variation,    have 
concluded  that  walkers  diiferentiate  into  better  walkers, 
but  never  into  climbers,  and  vice  versa;  so  it  is    neces- 
sary to  go  back  and  find  something  unlike  the  monkey, 


30  THE  WORLD-STORY 

the  adaptation  of  whose  parts  is  not  for  climbing.  lie 
stands  revealed.  Lemur  is  the  Greek  for  ghost,  or  spec- 
ter of  the  night;  so  this  name  was  authoritatively  ap- 
plied to  a  family  of  nocturnal  animals,  which  are  four- 
footed,  small  in  size,  and  have  a  sharp,  fox-like  muzzle. 
They  feed  on  birds  and  fruit,  and  are  natives  of  Mada- 
gascar and  the  neighboring  islands.  This  is  the  progeni- 
tor longed  for  and  long  sought,  and  after  whom  the 
lost  Eden  is  named.  An  animal  so  devoted  to  darkness 
would  have  had  a  blissful  existence  in  the  region  of 
polar  night,  and  the  polar  pithycus  theory  have  been 
saved  from  ridiculousness  and  wreck. 

The  dryopithycus,  the  man-ape  of  the  Miocene  era 
who  chipped  flints  at  Thenay(!)  never  got  higher  than 
45  degrees  north. 

Lemuria  is  suppositiously  located  in  the  Indian  Ocean 
because  of  the  proximity  of  Madagascar  and  other  is- 
lands M'here  the  little  animal  for  which  the  lost  land 
was  named,  still  makes  nightly  forays  for  birds  and 
fruit.  What  that  fox-like  muzzle  indicates,  is  not  ex- 
plained; there  may  be  a  lineal  connection  between  it 
and  the  cunning  of  the  deviser  of  this  elaborate  theorv 
of  the  origin  of  speculative  philosophers. 

Lemuria  is  sunk,  but  maps  of  it,  as  it  was  "ere  time 
began  its  fateful  overthrow,"  have  been  drawn.  In 
connection  with  it  is  a  chart  of  the  remaining  continents 
and  of  the  progressive  lines  of  race  dispersion.  Follow- 
ing one  of  the  lines  by  sea  to  Asia,  and  through  that 
continent  to  Behring  Straits  and  Alaska,  and  then 
down  the  coast,  we  have  the  route  by  which  the  "proba- 
bly mongoloid  man — wandered  in[to]  California." 

Lemuria  is  located  in  the  tropics  because  man,  "prim- 
itively, was  a  tropical  animal."  It  necessarily  required 
much  time  for  tropical  animals  to  become  tropical  men. 


THE  CRADLE  LAND  31 

and  much  time  for  such  men  to  get  to  Behring  Straits, 
and  to  get  acclimated  there.  Then,  after  becoming 
Esquimaux,  it  must  must  have  taken  a  good  Avhile  to  di- 
vest themselves  of  that  type  and  become  Californians. 
This  transmogrification  and  transmigration  is  supposed  to 
have  preceded  the  Pliocene  Age;  and  the  migration  had  to 
be  preceded  by  skill  in  navigaton  in  reaching  the  Asiatic 
continent  by  sea.  It  is  evident  that  the  cunning  indi- 
cated by  that  fox-like  muzzle,  was  early  brought  into 
requisition. 

The  author  of  "Preadamites,"  in  which  the  Progressive 
Chart  is  republished,  places  the  Australian  at  the  bottom 
of  the  scale  and  says,  "I  fix  upon  the  Australian  as  the 
lowest  type  of  humanity."  He  must,  then,  have  been  the 
first  colonist  from  Lemuria;  but  the  distance  between 
the  two  realms,  on  the  chart,  is  forty  degrees  of  latitude, 
requiring  too  great  a  feat  in  navigation  for  early  men 
or  animals,  of  ordinary  muzzles. 

It  would  thave  been  pleasanto  have  had  the  association 
and  support  of  some  school  of  philosoj)hers  holding 
that  the  Xorth  Americans  of  antiquity  Avere  autoch- 
thons; but  it  is  authoritatively  stated  by  the  one  who 
made  the  discovery,  that  man  came  up  from  his  low  es- 
tate by  and  through  the  catarhine  group  of  Old-World 
monkeys,  which  have  narrow  nostrils,  instead  of  the  Amer- 
ican platyrhines  whose  nostrils  are  flat.  One  would  not, 
on  general  principals,  have  supposed  that  the  American 
competitor  for  royal  honors  would  have  been  ruled  out 
of  the  line  upon  the  pretext  of  his  not  having  a  suffi- 
ciently prominent  and  pointed  nose,  while  the  Austra- 
lian, with  his  marshy  nasal  appendage,  is  admitted  to 
succession  in  the  same  line.  If  a  pointed  nose  is  a  ne- 
cessitv,  the  fox-like  muzzle  of  the  lemur  serves  him  well 
asrain.     But  he  is  not  American. 


I 


32  THE  WORLD-STORY 

Assumed  propositions  are,  for  the  purpose  of  argu- 
ment, classified  as:  (l)Comprehensible,  (2)  incomprehen- 
sible, (3)  contradictory,  and  (4)  absurd. 

The  bescinninsT  of  frost-marks  in  the  Connecticut  Val- 
ley  in  Triassic  time,   and  of  deadly  cold  at  the  north  in  i 

later  Miocene  time,  make  the  placing  of   the    primitive 
abode  in  a  milder  region,  a  geological  necessity. 

Prof.  Henry  argues  the  case: 

"The  spontaneous  generation  of  either  plants  or  animals,  al- 
though a  legitimate  subject  of  scientific  inquiry,  is  as  yet  an  un- 
verified hypothesis.  If  however,  we  assume  the  fact  that  a  liv- 
ing being  will  be  spontaneously  produced  when  all  the  physical 
conditions  necessary  to  its  existence  are  present,  we  must  al- 
low that  in  the  case  of  man,  with  his  complex  and  refined  or- 
-ganization,  the  fortuitous  assembly  of  the  muhiform  conditions 
required  for  his  appearance  would  be  extremely  rare,  and  from 
the  doctrine  of  probabilities  could  scarcely  occur  more  than  at 
one  time  and  in  one  place  on  our  planet;  and  further,  that  this 
would  be  somewhere  in  the  northern  temperate  zone." 

Man  has  left  mementos  of  his  presence  in  every  land 
that  he  has  occupied,  therefore  the  land  containing  the 
oldest  relics  would,  of  course,  be  the  one  first  oc- 
cupied by  him;  and  the  land  noAV  known  to  contain 
the  oldest  relics  must  be  considered  the  primitive  seat 
until  it  is  proved  that  an  older  one  is  inaccessble. 
This  test  is  unfavorable  to  the  polar  realm,  to  Atlantis, 
the  Pamir  Plateau,  the  valley  of  the  Euphrates,  and  the 
source  of  the  Nile. 

The  Big  Trees  are  relics  of  the  primeval  era,  found  . 
nowhere  but  in  California.  The  horse  originated  in 
America,  and  here  only  are  his  bones  assocated  with  the 
oldest  relics  of  man.  America  came  first  out  of  the 
sea  when  the  waters  were  gathered  to  one  place;  which 
fact  is  not  proof  that  it  first  became  either  inhabited  or 
habitable;  but,  in  nature  there  are  universal  harmonies, 


THE  CRADLE  LAND  33 

eternal  fitnesses  and  ever-recurring  analogies;  and  in 
this  view  tlie  beauty  of  the  scheme  of  ci'eation  would  be 
marred  if  this  land  were  not  the  ancestral  abode. 

"In  the  center  of  the  sea  is  the  white  isle  of  gi-eat  Zeus; 
There  is  Mount  Ida,  and  our  race's  cradle." 

Columbus  thought  that  Paradise  was  a  great  protuber- 
ance rising  out  from  the  equatorial  region,  toward  the 
sky:  and,  after  he  had  passed  the  meridian  a  hundred 
leagues  west  of  the  Azores,  his  ship,  he  says, 

"Went  on  rising  smoothly  toward  the  sky,  and  when  the 
weather  was  felt  to  be  milder,  on  account  of  which  mildness  the 
needle  shifted  one  point  of  the  compass;  and  the  further  we 
went,  the  more  the  needle  turned  to  the  north  west,  this  eleva- 
tion producing  the  variation  of  the  circle  which  the  north  star 
describes  with  its  satellites;  and  the  nearer  I  approached  the 
equinoctial  line,  the  more  they  rose  and  the  greater  was 
the  difference  in  the  stars  and  in  their  circles.  Ptolemy  and 
the  other  philosophers  who  have  written  upon  the  globe,  thought 
that  it  was  spherical,  believing  that  this  hemisphere  was  round 
as  well  as  that  in  which  they  themselves  dwelt,  the  center  of 
which  was  in  the  island  of  Arin,  which  is  under  the  equinoctial 
line,  between  the  Arabian  Gulf  and  the  Gulf  of  Pereia;  and  the 
circle  passes  by  Cape  St.  Vincent  in  Portugal,  westward,  and 
eastward  by  Cangra  and  the  Seras; — in  which  hemisphere  I 
make  no  difficulty  as  to  its  being  a  perfect  sphere  as  they  de- 
scribe; but  this  western  half  of  the  World,  I  maintain,  is  like 
half  of  a  verj'  round  pear,  having  a  raised  projection  for  the 
stem,  as  I  have  alreadj'  described,  or  like  a  woman's  nipple  on 
a  round  ball.  Ptolemy  and  the  others  who  have  written  on 
the  globe  had  no  information  respecting  this  part  of  the  world, 
which  was  then  unexplored;  they  only  established  their  own 
hemisphere,  which,  as  I  have  already  said,  is  half  of  a  perfect 
sphere.  And  now  that  your  Highnesses  have  commissioned 
mo  to  make  this  voyage  of  discovery,  the  truths  which  I  have 
stated  are  evidently  proved." 

The  old  romancer  was  writing  from  near  the  mouth  of 

the  Orinoco,  which  he  imagined  was  the  ancient  Gihon: 
c 


3-t  THE  WORLD-STORY 

The  Holy  Scriptures  record  that  our  Lord  made  the  earthly 
Paradise  and  planted  in  it  the  tree  of  life,and  thence  springs  a 
fountain  from  which  the  four  principal  rivers  of  the  world  take 
their  source  ;  namely,  the  Ganges  in  India,  the  Tigris  and  Eu- 
phrates, and  the  Nile.  I  do  not  find,  nor  ever  have  found,  any 
account  by  the  Romans  or  Greeks  which  fixes  in  a  positive 
manner  the  site  of  the  terrestrial  Paradise;  neither  have  I  seen 
it  given  in  any  map  of  the  world,  laid  down  from  authentic 
sources.  Some  placed  it  in  Ethiopia  at  the  soui'ces  of  the  Nile, 
but  others,  traversing  all  the  countries,  found  neither  the  tem- 
perature nor  the  altitude  of  the  sun  correspond  with  their  ideas 
respecting  it;  nor  did  it  appear  that  the  overwhelming  waters 
of  the  Deluge  had  been  there.  Some  pagans  pretended  to  ad- 
duce arguments  to  establish  that  it  was  the  Fortunate  Islands, 
now  called  the  Canaries. 

St.  Isidore,  Bede,  Strabo,  and  the  master  of  scholastic  histo- 
ry, with  St  Ambrose  and  Scotus,  and  all  the  learned  theologians, 
agree  that  the  earthly  Paradise  is  in  the  East[beyond  China].** 
I  do  not  suppose  that  the  earthly  Paradise  is  in  the  form  of 
a  rugged  mountain,  as  the  descriptions  have  made  it  appear, 
but  that  it  is  on  the  summit  of  the  spot  which  I  have  described 
as  being  in  the  form  of  the  stem  of  a  pear;  the  approach  to  it  from 
a  distance  must  be  a  constant  and  gradual  ascent;  but  I  believe 
that,  as  I  have  already  said,  no  one  could  ever  reach  the  top;  I 
■think,  also,  the  water  I  have  described[the  Orinoco],  may 
come  from  it,  though  it  be  far  ofi",  and  that,  stopping  at  the 
place  I  have  just  left,  it  forms  this  lake. 

There  are  great  indications  of  this  being  the  terrestrial  Para- 
dise, for  its  situation  coincides  with  the  opinions  of  the  holy 
and  wise  theologians  whom  I  have  mentioned;  and,  moreover, 
the  other  evidences  agree  with  the  suppositions,  for  I  have 
never  read  or  heard  of  fresh  water  coming  in  so  large  a  quanti- 
ty, in  so  close  conjunction  with  the  waters  of  the  sea;  the  idea 
i^  also  corroborated  by  the  blandness  of  the  temperature;  and  if 
the  water  of  which  I  speak  does  not  proceed  from  the  earthly 
Paradise,  it  seems  to  be  still  a  greater  wonder,  for  I  do  not  be- 
lieve that  there  is  any  river  in  the  world  so  large  and  so  deep. 
*  *  *  I  think  that  if  the  river  mentioned  does  not  proceed  from 
the  terrestrial  Paradise,  it  comes  from  an  immense  tract  of 
land  situated  in  the  south,  of  which,  hitherto  no  knowledge 


THE  CRADLE  LAND  35 

has  been  obtained.  But  the  more  I  reason  on  the  subject  the 
more  satistied  I  become  that  the  terrestrial  Paradise  is  situated 
in  the  spot  I  have  described;  and  I  ground  my  opinion  upon 
the  arguments  and  opinions  ah-eady  quoted.  May  it  please  the 
Lord  to  grant  your  Highnesses  long  life  and  health  and  peace, 
to  follow  so  noble  an  investigation,  in  which  I  think  our  Lord 
will  receive  great  service,  Spain  considerable  increase  of  her 
greatness,  and  all  Christians  much  consolation  and  pleasure,  be- 
cause by  this  means  the  name  of  our  Lord  will  be  published 
abroad." 

The  secret  of  Livingstone's  long  exile  and  tireless  suff- 
ering and  search  in  Central  Africa,  was  the  hope  of 
finding  the  Eden  of  classic  legend,  at  the  mystical  source 
of  the  Nile. 


CHAPTER  V. 

SEEKIC    HISTORY. 

And  oldest  classic  myths 
Attest  a  golden  age,  when  youthful  man 
Plucked  earth's  spontaneously  full-rounded  corn 
And  mellow  fruits,  beneath  a  genial  sky. 
From  lightning -kindled  flame  he  early  learned 
The  secret,  latent  in  the  fibrous  wood; 
And  with  this  power  armed,  he  braved  the  North: 
Subduing,  conquering,  became  his  Joy . 
Speech  was  a  gift, — as  tongues  at  Pentacost. 

We  have  seen  dai-kness  precede  liglit,  the  earth  pre- 
cede the  sun,  vegetation  precede  animal  life,  the  water 
above  the  firmament  precede  the  water  below  the  firma- 
ment, saurians  precede  mammals,  and  all  precede  man. 
Whether  or  not  this  fully  corroborates  Genesis  makes 
but  little  difference.  Genesis  does  not  need  any  bolster- 
ing; it  is  not  known  yet  what  Genesis  contains,  nor 
Avhat  is  in  the  book  of  nature.  There  is  nobody  now 
on  the  earth  who  can  write  anything  like  Genesis.  The 
doctrines  of  the  day  that  conflict  with  it  must  be  held  in 
abeyance  till  some  one  comes  to  the  tripod  who,  skilled 
in  latest  lore,  shall  also  have  somewhat  of  old-time  inspi- 
ration. A  comparison  of  the  author  of  Genesis  or  any 
part  of  it,  with  any  one  who  has  ever  yet  assailed  him, 
would  go  to  prove  the  opposite  of  the  doctrine  of  devel- 
opment, and  that  the  race   is   declining  and,  sometime. 


SEERIC  HISTORY.  37 

tlie  last  representative  of  it  will  be  seen  swinging  from 
a  limb,  by  his  tail. 

As  man's  place  in  creation  is  midway  in  a  gradation  of 
intelligences,  there  are  two  ways  of  tracing  out  his  con- 
nections; one,  from  the  animals  upward,   and  the  other, 
from  the  heavens  downward.     The  latter  is  the  divine 
method.     Looking  at  the  advent  of  man  from  a  merely 
intellectual  stand-point,  it  was  the  greatest  event  of  meas- 
ured or  unmeasured  time.     The  infinite  forces  of  the  uni- 
verse, with  infinite  intelligence  behind  and  above  them, 
had    been   working  through    uucipherable   time,    with 
steady  appreciable  purpose,  to  that  end — which  was  and 
is    creation's   end.     A  being  had  come  upon  the   arena 
who  could  understand  somew^hat  of  the  creative  processes; 
could  enjoy  the  things  that   had   been  made,    and   say 
that  all  was  good;  could  even  take  up  the  work  where  it 
had   been  left  off,  and  modify  and   improve   upon  the 
scene,  like  as  adding  links  to  the  infinite  chain,  and  parts 
to    a   divinely   planned   scheme;     who    could    receive 
intelligence  and  know  its  source,  and  return  acknowledg- 
ment and  reciprocate    affection — made  thus  nearly   in 
the  divine  likeness,  a  son  of  God.     And  what  a  heritage 
was  the  earth,  with  its  possibilities!  In  this  view  it  is  con- 
ceivable that  the  first  pair  were  objects  of  paternal  solic- 
itude, and  it  is  deducible  that  angels  were  given   charge 
concerning  them.     By  all  the  analogies  of  universal  na- 
ture, by  all  that  is  consistent  in  science  aud  all  that  is  sa- 
cred in  human  thought,  and   by   the   facts   of   history, 
and  the  constitution  of  the  human  mind,  there  was  this 
divine  care  and  superior  communication.     A  man  "with 
a  soul  was  made  the  progenitor  of  men  with  souls,    and 
the  time  is  not  distant  when  it  will  be  a  matter  of  amaze- 
ment that  the  science  of   the  19th   century   could  have 
so  debauched  itself  and  the  world,  as  shown  in  the  last 


38  THE  WORLD-STORY 

chapter.  Yet,  the  origin  of  man,  as  a  part  of  the  animal 
creation,  is  a  physiological  question,  and  the  accumula- 
tion of  data  may  enforce  the  concession  that  the  crea- 
tion of  Adam  was  the  creation  of  a  group.  Reasoning  on 
the  record  that  has  come  down  to  us,  it  is  necessary  to 
suppose  that  there  were  more  children  born  to  the 
first  pair  than  are  named  in  the  record.  It  is  also  ne- 
cessary to  suppose  that  the  curse  upon  Cain  was  a  mi- 
raculous element  in  the  history,  causing  a  mark  that 
distinguished  him  and  his  posterity  from  all  others; 
and  that  that  mark  included  the  distinguishing  charac- 
teristics of  the  black  races;  and  that  this  separation  and 
isolation  of  Cain's  people  saved  them  from  the  flood. 

Poor  Blind  Tom,  the  very  tail  end  of  the  long  deca- 
dency, has  a  gift  that  alligates  him  to  the  angels. 

It  is  assumed  that  new  types  have  a  degree  of  plastic- 
ity corresponding  to  that  of  new-born  individuals,  and 
at  an  early  time,  readily  adapt  themselves  to  their  envi- 
ronments; and  that  great  variations  occur,  and  are  per- 
petuated by  heredity,  and  become  fixed  by  time. 
So  the  consequences  attributed  to  the  primeval  cursings 
may  not  have  been  unnatural,  although  super-scientific. 

In  the  current  news  of  the  day  is  frequent  mention  of 
black  people  turning  white,  and  vice  versa.  In  1849 
two  young  men  were  traveling  on  the  Mississippi  as  min- 
strels, who  were  decisively  white,  though  born  of  black 
parents,.  They  were  Albinos.  Science  is  dumb  when 
confronted  with  the  trivial  facts  of  the  present  day,  but 
is  stern  and  dogmatical  concerning  the  great  mysteries 
of  the  creative  period,  when  the  conditions  were  such 
that  nothing  can  be  known  about  them. 

The  most  stupenduous  events  of  human  history  can  be 
traced  directly  back  to  their  origin  in  blessings;  why 
then  may  not  some  results  be  attributed  to  cursings? 


SEERIC  HISTORY.  39 

The  second  chapter  of  Genesis  is  a  separate  narrative  of 
the  creation  of  man,  in  which  the  first  human  beings  are 
represented  as  a  single  pair,  and  a  different  name  is  given 
to  the  Deity.     Nearly  every  object  in  it  has  a   symboli- 
cal meaning  and  the  whole  is  allegorical.     The   account 
was,  doubtless,  originally  written  in  hieroglyphics,  which 
are  symbols.    Before  the  invention  of  the  alphabet  there 
was  no  way  of  representing  words  but  by  objects;  and 
religious  ideas  could  only  be  expressed  by  symbols;  and 
symbols  of  this  kind,  because  of  their   sacredness,   have 
been  perpetuated  in  all  lands.     It  is    absurd  to    try   to 
make  modern  ideas  conform  to  ancient  usages.      Some 
of  the  symbols  of  this  chapter  are  common    to    ancient 
pagan  systems,  in  which  they  have  a  base    significance, 
but  here  they  are  used  to  express  the  highest  and  purest 
conceptions  of  truth.     The  symbol  of  the  serpent,  which 
is  used  in  the  narrative,  appears  again  in  a  prophecy  of 
the  future  "hero  born  of  woman."     That   revelation    is 
affected  by  the  reigning  ideas  is  shown  by  the  different 
imagery  used  in  various  ages  and  places.      The    great 
promises  to  Abraham  were  communicated  by  an    unim- 
pressive ceremony;  so,  couched  in  obscure  symbolism  is 
this  first  recorded  prophecy, — more  wonderful  than   the 
creation  of  worlds.     In  geology  we  trace  different  forms 
of  life  in  such  succession  that   some  are   ready   to   say 
that  one  sprang  out  of  another,  but  occasionally  we  come 
to  a  form  that  no  law  of  development  can  explain.     So, 
in  tracing  one  religious  development   back   to    another, 
from  Christianity  to  Judaism,  and  from  that  to  Pagan- 
ism, we  come  across  this  prophecy,  which   is   a   "leap" 
that  natural  principles  cannot  account  for. 

Having  followed  cosmical  history  down  into  the   hu- 
man period,  it  is  necessary  to  attempt,  by  a  geological  ex- 


40  THE  WORLD-STORY 

cursus,  to  show  the  unity  of  the  plan  and  the  connection 
of  the  different  parts  of  the  story. 

The  argument  from  design,  as  used  in  all  ages  for 
proving  the  existence  of  God,  has  gained  force  by  the 
discoveries  of  modern  times.  Surveying  the  field  of  geo- 
logical science  the  modern  philosopher  demonstrates  the 
existence  of  the  intelligent  creative  will,  by  saying  that 
it  was  a  part  of  the  design,  to  impress  upon  us  that 
the  same  God  who  finished  wuth  man,  began  with  the 
vertebrate  fish  as  a  model.  The  design  that  reaches  up 
to  man,  reaches,  of  course,  to  all  that  man  may  become 
in  the  eternities  upon  which  he  is  entering.  The  laws 
and  providences  that  brought  him  into  being  can  give 
him  higher  being,  and  the  resurrection  will  be  evolution. 

The  Christian  world  has  not  occupied  the  highest 
ground  concerning  methods  of  creation.  They  could  not 
see  that  it  was  more  worthy  the  divine  architect  to  es- 
tablish laws  and  put  in  operation  forces  that  would  work 
out  his  purposes,  than  to  personally,  instantaneously  and 
upon  occasion,  produce  the  various  results. 

We  know  that  the  Adirondacks  arose  from  the 
primeval  sea  by  the  same  force  that  is  now  raising  the 
coast  of  Norway.  The  forces  that  elevate  a  continent 
and  the  forces  that  populate  it,  are  equally  natural  and 
equally  divine,  and  are  scientifically  and  scripturally 
equal.  The  forces  used  in  making  the  continents,  were 
simply  radiation  and  contraction.  In  these  we  can  not 
discern  divine  wisdom;  but,  as  they  prepare  the  condi- 
tions which  make  life  possible,  they  are  equal  with  the 
forces  more  directly  used,  and  are  equally  divine.  The 
forces  which  produce  organic  forms  show  intelligent  di- 
rection, and  we  must  conclude  that  intelligence  directs 
the  forces  that  upheave  the  continents.  Then  a  strictly 
scientific  formula  would  be:  God  is  elevating   the    coast 


SEERIC  HISTORY,  41 

of  Norway.     What  his  declared  purposes  are,  pertains 
to  the  department  of  tlieology. 

The  wisdom  controlling  the  forces  becomes  more  ap- 
parent in  the  later  stages  of  creation,  imtil  the  general 
design  becomes  apparent.  One  type  points  to  a  succeed- 
ing type,  and  each  is  a  promise  of  the  culmination  in 
man:  so  the  creative  intelligence  is  a  prophetic  spirit, 
the  same  that  spoke  to  Adam  and  to  Moses  and  told 
them  what  should  be. 

Man  is,  in  a  sense,  the  culmination  of  the  progressive 
principle.  Creation  ceased  by  law,  just  as  it  began 
by  law.  Nature's  "teeming  date  dried  up,"  simply 
because  the  process  was  completed.  No  higher  struc- 
ture could  succeed  the  previous  types;  and  no  higher 
endowment  could  be  given  than  that  of  the  human  mind. 
This  is  an  explanation  justifying  the  scheme  of  salva- 
tion. That  the  creative  process  terminated  in  man, 
is  an  argument  that  nature  is  not  capable  of  a  higher 
effort,  and  that  there  is  not,  upon  any  earth  or  in  any 
sphere,  a  more  perfect  form,  or  an  intelligence  of  a  high- 
er type;  and,  therefore,  that  man  has  entered  upon  a  state 
in  which  change  of  form  is  not  necessary;  and  his  mind, 
though  capable  of  infinite  expansion,  is  not  susceptible 
of  change  of  constitution.  Really,  he  is  now  inh  is  first 
estate,  with  the  infinities  ahead. 

Tracing  out  the  principle  of  evolution,  as  relating  to 
man,  we  find  that,  like  his  predecessors,  he  became  a  prop- 
agator of  his  species;  and  his  species  became  divided 
into  races,  and  differentiated  into  tribes  and  families;  all 
within  limits  that  were  the  bounds  of  genera,  sjiecies, 
families,  etc.,  in  the  old  Silurian  Era.  The  migrations 
of  each  of  these  races,  their  succession  on  the  earth,  their 
rise  or  decline  under  favorable  or  unfavorable  periods  and 
conditions,  are  purely  geological,  and  all  human   insti- 


42  THE  WORLD-STORY 

tutions  have  followed  the  same  law  of  development  and 
decline.  Religious  development  is  not  an  exception  to 
the  law  of  survival  of  the  fittest;  and  civilization  is  an 
evolution,  and  we  behold  and  j^erf  orm  a  part  in  a  drama 
that  began  in  a  movement  of  star  dust.  As  God  is  in  the 
last  act,  so  must  he  have  been  in  the  first.  The  history 
of  creation  merges  into  that  of  man.  One  plan  runs 
through  both,  and  one  design  is  traceable  throughout. 
Again,  it  was  the  Creator  who  spoke  to  the  prophets. 
None  but  the  planner  could  know  how  the  machinery- 
would  work.  The  future  must  grow  out  of  the  past,  and 
the  forces  in  operation  bring  about  the  results  foretold, 
and   the  new  earth  will  be  the  old,  transformed. 

The  brief  mention  in  the  old  record  of  the  building 
of  a  city,  the  making  of  implements,  and  the  handling 
of  instruments,  is  indicative  of  the  evolution  of  arts  and 
industries. 

All  the  antediluvian  narratives  are  duplicated  in  the 
myths  of  ancient  nations.  The  Dioscuri  and  Cabari  are 
reflections  of  Cain  and  Abel.  Vulcan  is,  probably.  Tu- 
bal Cain.  Set  of  Egypt  is,  probably,  Seth.  The  ten  Pa- 
triarchs became  the  ten  heroes  of  the  Assyrians,  and  like- 
wise of  the  Iranians,  Egyptians  and  Chinese.  Enoch's 
character  was  inconceivable  except  to  Seers.  The  ages  of 
the  Patriarchs  is  an  artificial  arrangement,  according  to 
the  cycle  of  the  Sabbatical  year.  The  numbers  differ 
in  the  original  versions,  Usher's  chronology  is  a  crum- 
pled horn.  We  are  told  that  the  sons  of  God  who  took 
wives  of  the  daughters  of  men,  were  angels  who  kept  not 
their  first  estate,  but  left  their  own  habitation.  Their 
supposed  progeny(for  science  knows  nothing  of  such  hy- 
brids) were  the  heroes  celebrated  throughout  the  ancient 
world,  in  myth  and  song.  A  cuneiform  inscription  says 
that  the  antediluvians  were  not  found  worthy  to  go  to  the 


SEERIC  HISTORY.  43 

land  of  the  silver  sky,  where  the  son  of  Ea  raises  the  dead, 
but  were  imprisoned  in  the  land  without  return.  The 
Book  of  Enoch,  which  has  internal  evidence  of  inspira- 
tion, and  nevertheless  is  a  forgery  of  the  century  before 
Christ,  contains  this  graphic  portrayal  of  antediluvian 
times: 

"Arazial  taught  the  use  of  stones  of  every  valuable  and  se- 
lect kind;  impiety  increased,  fornication  multipled,  and  the  peo- 
ple corrupted  all  their  ways;  Amazarak  taught  all  the  sorceries; 
and  dividers  of  roots;  Amers  taught  the  solution  of  sorcery; 
Barkayal  taught  the  observance  of  the  stars;  Akybul  taught  signs; 
Lamiel  taught  astronomy;  and  Azarad  taught  the  motions  of  the 
moon." 

This  coupling  of  magic  and  immorality  in  the  practi- 
ces attributed  to  the  antediluvians  shows  a  knowledge  of 
human  nature  if  nothing  else.  The  traditions  of  sorceries 
and  unnatural  sins  of  the  Toltecs,  before  their  destruc- 
tion, present  a  similar  scene. 

Mr.  Smith  in  his  Assyrian  Discoveries,  says; 

"I  discovered  among  other  things  a  curious  religious 
calendar  of  the  Assyrians,  in  which  every  month  is 
divided  into  four  weeks,  and  the  seventh  days,  or  Sabbaths, 
are  marked  out  as  days  on  which  no  work  should  be  done." 

Among  the.  curious  old  tablets  is  an  account  of  crea- 
tion. Seven  lines  from  the  lifth  tablet  of  a  volume  in 
the  library  of  king  Assurbanipal,  read  as  follows: 

"The  moon  he  appointed  to  rule  the  night, 
And  to  wander  through  the  night  until  the  dawn  of  day, 
Every  month,  without  fail,  he  made  holy  assembly  days. 
In  the  beginning  of  the  month,  at  the  rising  of  the  night, 
It  shot  forth  its  horns  to  illuminate  the  heavens. 
On  the  seventh  day  he  appointed  a  holy  day. 
And  to  cease  from  all  business,  he  commanded. 

All  the  most  ancient  nations  believed  that  Paradise 
was  the  polar  region  of  the  north,  just  beneath  the  axis 


44  THE  WORLD-STORY 

of  the  heavens;  that  the  tree  of  life  was  the  pole,  and 
that  the  river  of  life  that  watered  the  garden,  came  down 
from  the  celestial  Eden  and  divided  into  four  streams, 
going  to  the  four  quarters  of  the  earth.  Because  of 
this  belief  some  have  held  that  the  narrative  in  Genesis 
was  written  after  the  return  from  the  Babylonish  cap- 
tivity, but  it  will  be  found  that  the  Jews,  like  the  other 
ancient  nations,  had  an  original  tradition  of  a  seat  of 
bliss. 

If  the  second  chapter  of  Genesis  should  come  to  be  re- 
jected as  history,  its  doctrine  will  be  found  placed  be- 
yond and  above  the  reach  of  reason  in  the  53d.  of  Isaiah, 
and  there  is  no  need  of  any  more  dodging.  These  narra- 
tives are  the  beginnings  of  a  vast  system,  stretching  across 
the  page  of  time,  and  are  inseparable  from  what  follows, 
and  can  not  be  Judged  separately.  When  pronouncing  up- 
on one  of  a  series  of  correllated  satements,  all  are  conclud- 
ed in  the  j  udgment.  These  earliest  enunciations  are  built 
upon  by  miracle  workers  of  later  ages,  till  Christ,  who  was 
a  Creator.  The  power  to  work  miracles  is  accompanied  by 
an  intellectual  apprehension  of  the  quality  and  character- 
istics of  miracles,  and  they  who  have  it,  have  no  need 
that  any  man  should  tell  them.  Those  who  can  not  do, 
can  not  judge  of  what  has  been  done.  The  difference 
between  Paganism  and  Christianty  is  slight.  Pagan  phil- 
osophy always  has  recognized  a  God  who  works  by  law; 
Christianity  acknowledges  a  God  of  providence  and 
miracle.  Science  is  panoplied  with  law;  and,  like 
Daniel's  beast,  is  devouring  and  breaking  down  all 
other   kingdoms. 


CHAPTER  YI. 

THE    WINTER    OF    THE    WORLD. 

"^n  age  shall  dau:n—(he  winter  of  the  world." — Eddas. 

'•The  Pliocene  period  is  the  declining  age  of  the  European 
flora,  the  time  when  the  climatic  conditions  are  definitly  alter- 
ed, when  the  vegetation  gradually  becomes  poor  and  ceases  to 
gain  anything.  The  progress  of  the  phenomenon  is  slow,  but 
it  moves  along  an  inclined  plain,  on  which  it  never  stops. 
Those  ornamental  plants,  precious  trees,  those  noble  and  ele- 
gant shrubs  which  are  now  carefully  trained  by  artificial  culture 
in  European  conservatories,  were  until  then  inhabitants  of  Eu- 
rope, but  they  left  forever. 

We  come  in  proper  succession  to  another  monument- 
al epoch  in  the  world's  history.  We  have  followed 
and  watched  the  cooling  process  through  uncipherable 
eons;  the  Glacial  Era  is  not  an  exception  to  the  theory;  it 
was  a  temporary  acceleration  of  the  process;  and  when 
it  terminated,  the  former  temperature  was  regained  and 
the  gradual  process  resumed. 

One  of  the  supposed  causes  of  this  sudden  decrease 
of  temperature  is  accounted  for  by  the  facts  that  the 
earth  has  an  oscillatory  motion,  which  makes  the  iucli- ;.  —- 
natioii  of  the  axis  greater  at  one  period  than  at  auothei-,  3 
and  the  northern  hemisphere  is  turned  away  from  the 
sun  more  than  the  southern  one,  and  vice  versa,  during 
a  period  of  10,500  years.  This  theory  is  connected 
with  another,  that  the  eccentricity  of  the  earth's  orbit 
was  formerly  greater  than  now,  and  cold  at  one   or  oth- 


46  THE  WORLD-STORY 

er  of  the  poles  was    intensified  by   longer  winters.      A 
third  theory  is  that  part  of   the  waters  was    formerly 
suspended  above  the  earth  in    the    form  of   rings,    like 
those  of  Saturn;  and  one  of  these  settled  at  the  pole  in 
the  form  of  snow  and  thus  caused   an  avalanche  of  ice 
to  be  pushed  sloAvly  over  half  the  Northern  Hemisphere. 
Whatever  the  cause,  this  ice  cap  strewed  the  hills  of 
New  England  with  boulders,    and  had  power  to  scoop 
out     or      greatly     modify     the   beds     of     the     great 
lakes.      In  all   the   northern  regions   it  was   one   vast 
mass,  carrying  with  it,  and  grinding  beneath  it,  rocks  and 
soil  in  inconceivable  quantities.     A  lobe  pushed  south- 
west through  Lake    Superior   and   covered   Minnesota, 
Iowa,  and  part  of  Missouri.    Before  that  time  these  prai- 
rie lands  had  been  the  shore  and  bottom  of  the  sea;  this 
sea  was  filled  with  ice  and  its  bottom  was  filled   up   by 
the  debris  and  comminuted  particles  brought  down   by 
the  ice.     The  particles,  set  free  by  the   melting   of  the 
ice  and  icebergs,  settled  in  the  water  in    irregular   mas- 
ses, forming  the  till,  boulder  clay,  joint   clay,   or   hard- 
pan  underlying  this  region.      This   clay   was   the  mud 
originally  formed  beneath   the  glacier.      How   it  was 
distributed  so  evenly  and  generally  over  such  vast  areas 
without  becoming  stratified,    is   not   explained;   but  it 
must  necessarily  have  been  held  in  solution  in,  and  pre- 
cipitated from,  water,  in   order   to   be    so  homogenous 
and  general.     It  is  stratified,  in  one  sense;  it  is,  itself,  a 
stratum.     It  probably  settled  suddenly  in  a  still,  fresh- 
water sea,  at  the  time  of  the  breaking  up  of  the  glacial 
ice.     Another  evidence  that  these  lands  were  thus  form- 
ed is  that  they  are  level.     The  flat  parts  and  the  tops  of 
the  hills  and  ridges,  form  a  vast  plain,  sloping  slightly 
southward,  like  the  verge  of  an    ocean   bed.      The    ice- 
sheet,  at  one  time,  covered  ueai-ly  all  the  state  of  Iowa, 


THE  WINTER  OF  THE  WORLD.  47 

except  the  north-east  corner,  and  was  four  hundred  feet 
thick  at  the  northern  boundary.  The  western  flank  of 
it  lay  for  a  long  time  upon  the  water-shed  between  the 
Des  Moines  and  the  Missouri.  This  accounts  for  the 
boulders  of  that  latitude,  The  more  southern  deposits 
of  loess  were  formed  by  a  river,  in  the  Missouri  valley, 
broad  as  the  Amazon.  The  drift  deposit  extending  into 
Missouri,  while  the  principal  morains  are  midway  in 
Iowa,  show  that  the  deposits  extended  farther  than  the 
glacier,  and  the  more  s  outhern  part  was  made  by  the 
floating  ice.  Southern  Iowa  is  quite  hilly,  but  the  eye 
detects  the  general  level,  and  it  is  evident  that  the  hol- 
lows were  worn  by  the  water  courses.  Taking  the  view 
that  these  lands  are  an  upheaved  bed  of  the  sea,  all  that 
was  necessary  to  constitute  them  prairies  was  the  growth 
and  decay  of  grass  and  weeds  to  form  the  soil.  Absence 
of  trees  on  the  praries  results  from  wind,  fire,  climatic 
extremes  of  heat,  cold,  moisture  and  drouth,  shallowness 
of  soil;  more  than  these,  want  of  time.  The  processes  now 
going  on  of  forming  wind  breaks,  prevention  of  fires, 
planting,  &c.,  will  result  in  abundant  growth. 

It  may  be   taken  for  true  that  the  water  was  held  in 
suspension,  that  the  poles  cooled  first,  that  there  is  but     - 
little  centrifugal  force  in  the  polar   region,  and,    there- 
fore, the  glaciers  originated  as  described.     In  persuance 
of  the  thought,  it  may  be  supposed  that  the  ice-cap  when 
it  formed  at  the  North  Pole,  reacted  upon  the  waters  and 
vapors  above  the  earth,  lowering  the  temperature    still, 
more  rapidly,  producing  a  crisis  and  bringing  down  deba-J  -V^ 
cles,  and,  perhaps,  breaking  up  a  Saturnian  ring.    The  ice-'^ 
cap  attained  a  thickness  of  two  or  three  miles  on  the  Lab- 
rador coast,  and  must  have  towered    immensly,  further 
north.     This  great  accumulation  of  ice  "tended  to  de- 
press the  land,  so  to  speak,"  changed  the  equinoctial  ceu- 


48  THE  WORLD-STORY 

ter,  and  the  waters  were  drawn  northward,  and  the 
northern  lands  were  submerged.  In  some  such  way  the 
lands  were  subjected  to  the  double  action  of  glaciers 
and  floating  ice,  as  already  noticed. 

Still  other  results  of  the  accumulation  of  polar  ice 
may  be  reasonably  supposed:  It  attained  such  dimen- 
sions that  the  diameter  of  the  earth  at  the  polar  axis  was 
greater  than  at  other  points,  and  therefore  the  axis  shifted 
and  the  world  began  to  revolve  around  the  axis  of  its  short- 
est diameter,  or,  at  least  oscillated,  and  diverted  the  high 
equatorial  waters  from  their  place,  and  they  rose  over 
the  north  temperate  lands,  high  above  the  moutains. 
The  polar  ice  was,  of  course,  soon  dislodged  and  then 
the  world  swung  back  to  its  proper  plane  of  revolution. 
All  other  theories  make  it  easier  to  get  the  water  over 
the  lands  than  to  get  it  off  again. 

To  thus  making  all  cataclysms  the  immediate  effect 
of  natural  law,  the  objection  might  be  raised  that  the  on- 
ly way  then  to  make  the  deluge  of  Noah  a  special  provi- 
dence, would  be  to  have  the  line  of  causation  set  in  motion 
millions  of  years  before  the  culmination.  The  answer 
must  be,  that  results  and  causes  are  alike  subject  to  the 
divine  volition.  The  wind  blew  east  on  one  memorable 
occaion;  if  an  old  man  with  a  rod  had  not  been  journeying 
just  then,  who  shall  say  which  way  the  wind  would  have 
blown?  It  is  something  gained  to  have  the  possibility 
of  the  Deluge  determined;  the  supposition  that  mirac- 
ulous power  was  brought  into  requisition,  is  necessary  to 
any  solution  if  the  problem;  and  advancement  of  dis- 
covery, all  along  the  line,  makes  the  longer  ignoring  of 
the  problem  unscientific.  Geology  furnishes  seven  ele- 
ments of  the  solution:  (1)  A  great  flood  occurred  in  the 
northern  hemisphere;  (2)  it  occurred  in  very  ancient 
times;  (3)  the  earliest  men  lived  in  the  Northern  Hemi- 


THE  WINTER  OF  THE  WORLD.  49 

sphere;  (4)  they  were  not  savages;  (5)  they  lived  before 
the  flood;  (6)  they  lived  on  the  Western  Continent,  and 
(7)  they  passed  to  the  Eastei'n  Continent  in  later,  but  in 
very  ancient  times. 
Mr.  Winchell  says: 

"Whether  then  we  consider  the  magnitude  of  the  geological 
changes  since  European  man,  or  his  contemporaneousness  with 
animals  now  extinct,  or  succession  upon  the  continental  glacier, 
we  do  not  discover  valid  grounds  for  assuming  him  removed  by 
a  distance  exceeding  six  or  ten  thousand  years.  ***** 
I  do  not  intend  this  estimate  to  cover  the  age  of  the  man  of 
Calaveras,  who  seems  to  have  lived  in  Pliocene  time." 

If  this  statement  of  the  case  be  conclusive  it  affords 
other  elements  of  the  above  solution — (8)  the  time  of 
the  passage  of  European  man  to  the  Eastern  Continent 
was  at  the  close  of  the  Glacial  Era:  (9)This  is  the  date 
of  the  geological  deluge: — 

"Chief  among  the  agencies  in  destroying  traces  of  [early] 
man  have  been  the  glacial  floods,  and  these,  if  the  glacialists  are 
right,  have  occurred,  one,  during  the  Pliocene,  and  the  other  at 
the  beginning  of  the  Quaternary. — Pkof.  Jones. 

Mr.  F.  Lenormant  thinks  that  man  existed  in  the  Mi- 
ocene Age;  not  as  a  savage,  but  as  a  gifted  being  like 
the  men  described  in  Genesis,  and  that  the  savagery  of 
later  ages  was  the  result  of  a  divine  curse,  and  "the  appear- 
ance of  cold,  intense  and  permanent,  and  which  rendered 
a  great  part  of  the  earth  uninhabitable,  was  one  among 
the  chastisements  which  followed  this  fault  of  Adam." 
It  is  true  that  the  northern  lands  were  desolated,  but  the 
same  lands  are  now  the  richest  parts  of  the  temperate 
zone,  and  the  hills  rounded  by  the  glaciers,  and  the  val- 
leys scooped  out  by  them,  are  the  most  beautiful  parts  of 
the  earth,  and  the  Glacial  Age  was  a  necessary  preparation 
for  the  advance  of  man.  Nothing  in  geological  history 
shows  more  of  benevolent  design  than  the  workof  the  gla- 

D 


1/"^'    "-RSITY 


50  THE  WORLD-STORY 

ciers.  The  first  lesson  of  geological,  as  of  human,  his- 
tory, is  "the  good  that  cometh  of  evil.  If  the  earth  has 
not  recovered  from  its  calamity,  it  certainly  will.  The 
same  may  be  said  of  Man,  though  the  means  for  his  re- 
covery are  different.  The  situation  is  apprehended  by 
Mr.  Emerson: — 

"Man  is  a  God  in  ruins.  AVlien  men  are  innocent,  life  shall 
be  longer,  and  pass  into  the  immortal  as  gently  as  we  awake 
from  dreams.  Man  is  the  dwarf  of  himself.  Once  he  was  per- 
meated and  dissolved  by  spirit.  At  present  he  applies  to  na- 
ture but  half  his  force.  *  *  Meantime,  in  the  thick  dark- 
ness, there  are  not  wanting  gleams  of  light — occasional  exam- 
ples of  the  action  of  man  upon  nature  with  his  entire  force. 
Such  examples  are  the  traditions  of  miracles  in  the  antiquity  of 
all  nations,  the  history  of  Jesus  Christ.*  *  *  The  problem  of 
restoring  the  world  original  and  eternal  beauty  is  solved  in  the 
redemption  of  the  soul." 


CHAPTER  YII. 


DELUGE    TABLETS. 


The  cuneiform  inscriptions  include  a  very  ancient 
account  of  the  Deluge  that  is  so  much  like  the  Hebrew 
narrative,  that  scholars  agree  that  the  latter  is  simply  a 
transcript  of  it,  with  its  "polytheism  carefully  eliminat- 
ed." With  gratitude  to  the  truth-loving  investigators 
who  have  made  the  present  age  the  parent  of  all  pre- 
vious ones  by  readjusting  the  childish  mistakes  of  those 
ages,  their  leading  and  dictation  is  rejected  in  this  case. 
The  original  account,  whichever  it  is,  should  contain 
the  truth.  The  Chaldaic  story  starts  out  with  the  feeble 
assertion  that  Ea,  one  of  the  many  false  divinities,  fore- 
warned the  hero  of  the  adventure,  in  a  dream.  Of  course, 
there  could  be  no  preparation  made  without  a  knowledge 
of  futurity.  Here  the  Chaldean  chronicler  is  forestalled, 
and  the  critics  know  it;  none  but  a  sei'vant  of  the  true 
God,  ever,  in  any  place  or  age,  had  a  knowledge  of  the 
future  granted  him.  No  one  but  the  God  of  heaven,  as 
represented  in  the  scriptures,  could  have  made  known 
the  coming  of  the  flood;  none  but  he  could  have  provided 
against  it,  as  none  but  he  could  have  brought  it  in. 
No  one  but  a  monotheist  could  have  written  a  true  ac- 
count at  first,  as  none  but  a  monotheistic  account  could 
be  a  true  one.  The  true  one  is  necessarily  the  oldest, 
and  as  the  cuneiform  narrative  cannot  be  true,  it  can  not 
be  anything  but  a  corrupted  copy  of  the  true  one.     The 


52  THE  WORLD-STORY 

writers  of  the  cuneiform  tablets,  not  being  monotheists, 
were  not  representatives  of,  and  inheritors  from,  the  peo- 
ple first  possessed  of  the  facts.  The  Hebrews  having  the 
true  faith,  were  necessrily  the  successors  of,  and  inheritors 
from,  the  family  preserved  from  the  flood;  and  unless  the 
faith  had  been  lost,  the  true  history  of  the  flood  had  not. 
We  find  that  Melchizedek  had  the  true  faith,  and  that 
he  was  a  priest.  We  must  infer  that  he  belonged  to  an 
order,  and  had  had  predecessors  in  his  ofiice.  God  would 
not  have  a  priesthood  on  the  earth  more  ignorant  of  his 
dealings  than  their  pagan  neighbors  were.  Abraham 
had  a  knowledge  of  Chaldean  lore,  yet  he  acknowledged 
the  supremacy  of  Melchizedek.  Investigation  is  prov- 
ing that  the  priesthood  "of  the  Most  High  God"  was  the 
source  of  that  wondrous  light  found  reflected  in  Egyp't, 
Irania  and  India,  in  remotest  ages.  The  theory  that 
the  literal,  practical,  condensed  and  intensely  spiritual, 
account  of  the  flood  was  coj)ied  from  a  pagan  poem,  is 
not  consistent  with  the  facts  of  archaeological  history. 
If  the  two  accounts  had  been  identical  down  to  the  time 
of  Abraham,  as  asserted,  there  would  be  some  similarity 
i»  the  names  mentioned  in  them;  but  the  differences 
are  so  great  that  they  can  only  be  acounted  for 
by  supposing  that  the  narratives  had  been  preserved 
separately  through  a  great  lapse  of  of  time;  one  of  them 
by  a  people  or  priesthood  having  a  knowledge  of  the 
true  faith,  the  other  by  a  priesthood  turned  from  the 
truth  to  fables.  The  ancient  priests  made  it  their  spec- 
ial business  to  to  preserve  their  sacred  writings,  and 
it  is  not  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  true  priesthood 
would  be  the  only  ones  of  the  world  who  did  not  have 
such  records.  The  supposition  has  been  made  by  some, 
that  Abraham  and  Melchisedek  had,  each,  a  separate  orig- 


DELUGE  TABLETS.  53 

inal  version,  and  that  they  wei'e  preserved  until  the 
time  of  Moses,  wlio,  from  the  archives  of  the  priesthood 
of  Midian  and  those  of  the  house  of  Israel,  and  guided 
by  inspiration,  wrote  what  has  come  down  to  us  bearing 
his  name. 

Inscribed  papyrus  rolls  were  in  use  before  the  time 
of  Abraham.  The  Chaldean  account  of  creation  can  be 
independently  proven  to  be  as  ancient  as  2,000  B.  C; 
the  Izdubar  legends,  of  which  the  Deluge  Tablet  is  a 
part,  have  the  same  antiquity.  Izdubar  was  a  great 
hunter  or  giant,  who,  after  getting  dominion  in  Baby- 
lon, drove  out  the  tyrant  of  Erech,  and  destroyed  a 
monstrous  beast  of  prey;  and  had  a  friend,  an  astrologer 
named  Hebcni,  a  learned  hermit,  who  aided  him  to  kill 
wild  animals,  and  to  conquer  a  mountain  CMef.  Bele- 
su  was  the  name  of  another  conquered  chief.  A  divine 
bull  was  killed  by  the  hero,  who  is  supposed  to  be 
Nimrod,  and  the  country  subdued  from  the  Armenian 
mountains  to  the  gulf.  The  great  conqxieror  fell  sick, 
and,  by  the  advice  of  his  astrologer,  sought  the  deified 
hero  of  the  flood,  Khasisatra.  Among  many  questions 
asked  of  Khasisatra  is  the  one,  how  he  became  immor- 
tal. This  introduces  the  story  of  the  flood,  which  is 
made  the  eleventh  tablet  of  the  poem.     It  is  as  follows: 

"'I  will  reveal  to  thee,  O  Iz(lul>ar,  the  history  of  my  preserva- 
tion — and  tell  to  thee  the  deci^-iou  of  the  gods. 

The  town  ofShurippak,  a  town  which  thou  knowest,  is  situat- 
ed on  the  Euphrates —  it  was  ancient,  and  in  it  men  did  not 
honor  the  gods.  I  alone,  I  was  the  servant,  to  the  great  gods — 
The  gods  took  counsel  on  the  ai>peal  of  Anu — a  deluge  was  pro- 
posed by  Bel,  and  approved  by  Nabon,  Nergal  and  Adar. 

And  the  god  Ea,  the  immutable  lord,  repeated  this  commond 
in  a  dream.  I  listened  to  the  decree  of  fate  that  he  announced, 
and  he  said  to  me:  "Man  ofShurippak,  son  of  Ubaratutu,  build 
thou  a  vessel  and  finish  it  quickly.    By  a  deluge  I  will  destroy 


54  THE  WORLD-STORY 

substance  and  life.  Cause  thou  to  go  up  into  the  vessel  the  ' 
substance  of  all  that  has  life.  The  vessel  thou  shalt  build — 
600  cubits  shall  be  the  measure  of  its  length;  and  60  cubits  the 
amount  of  its  breadth  and  of  its  height.  Launch  it  thus  on  the 
ocean,  and  cover  it  with  a  roof."  I  understood,  and  I  said  to 
Ea,  my  lord: — "The  vessel  that  thou  commandest  me  to  build 
thus — when  I  shall  do  it — young  and  old  shall  laugh  at  me." 
Ea  opened  his  mouth  and  spoke. — He  said  to  me  his  servant: 
"If  they  laugh  at  thee,  thou  shalt  say  to  them:  He  shall  be  pun- 
ished, whoever  has  insulted  me,  for  the  protection  of  the  gods 
is  over  me.  *  I  will  exercise  my  judgment  on  that  which  is  on 
high  and  that  which  is  below.  *  *  Close  the  vessel.  *  At  a 
a  given  moment  I  will  cause  thee  to  know,  enter  into  it  and 
draw  the  door  of  the  ship  toward  thee.  Within  it,  thy  grains, 
thy  furniture,  thy  provisions,  thy  riches,  thy  men-servants,  thy 
maid-servants,  and  thy  young  people,  the  cattle  of  the  field, 
and  the  wild  beasts  of  the  plain  that  I  will  assemble,  and  that 
I  will  send  tliee,  shall  be  kept  behind  the  door."  Khasisatra 
opened  his  mouth  and  spoke;  he  said  to  Ea,  his  lord: — "No 
one  has  made  such  a  ship.    *    On  the  prow  I  will  fix—  *  *    * 

"'On  the  fifth  day  the  two  sides  of  the  bark  were  raised.  In 
its  covering,  fourteen  in  all  were  its  rafters— fourteen  in  all  did 
it  count  above.  I  placed  its  roof,  and  I  covered  it.  I  embarked 
in  it  on  the  sixth  day;  I  divided  its  floors  on  the  seventh;  I  di- 
vided the  interior  compartments  on  the  eighth.  I  stopped  up 
the  chinks  through  which  the  water  entered  in;  I  visited  the 
chinks,  and  added  what  was  wanting.  I  poured  on  the  exterior 
three  times  3600  measures  of  asphalte;  and  three  times  3600 
measures  of  asphalte  within.  Three  times  3600  men,  porters, 
brought  on  their  heads  the  chests  of  provisions.  I  kept  3600 
chests  for  the  nourishment  of  my  family,  and  the  mariners 
divided  among  themselves  twice  3600  chests.  For  provisioning, 
I  had  oxen  slain;  I  instituted  rations  for  each  day.  In  antici- 
pation of  the  need  of  drinks;  of  barrels,  and  of  wine  I  collected 
in  quantity  like  to  the  waters  of  a  river,  and  of  provisions  in 
quantity  like  to  the  dust  of  the  earth.  To  arrange  them  in  the 
chests  I  set  my  hand,  *  —the  vessel  was  completed.  —I  had 
carried  above  and  below  the  furniture  of  the  ship. 

"  'All  that  I  possessed  I  gathered  together;  all  that  I  possessed 
of  silver  I  gathered  together;  all  that  I  possessed  of  gold,  I  gath- 


DELUGE  TABLETS  55 

fli-etl — all  that  I  jiospessed  of  the  substance  of  life  of  every  kind 
I  gathered  together.  I  made  all  ascend  into  the  vessel;  my 
servants,  male  and  female;  the  cattle  of  the  fields,  the  wild 
beasts  of  the  plains,  and  the  sons  of  the  people,  I  made  them 
all  ascend. 

"  'Shamash  made  the  moment  determined,  and — announced 
it  in  these  terms:  "In  the  evening  I  will  cause  it  to  rain  abun- 
dantly from  heaven;  enter  into  the  vessel  and  close  the  door." 
The  fixed  moment  had  arrived,  which  he  announced  in  these 
terms:  "In  the  evening  I  will  cause  it  to  rain  abundantly  from 
heaven."  When  the  evening  of  that  day  arrived,  I  was  afraid. 
I  entered  into  the  vessel  and  shut  the  door.  In  shutting  the 
vessel,  to  Buzur-shadi-rabi,  the  pilot,  I  confided  this  dwelling, 
with  all  it  contained. 

"  'Mu-sheri-ina-namari  rose  from  the  foundations  of  heaven 
in  a  black  cloud;  Ramman  thundered  in  the  midst  of  the  cloud, 
and  Nabon  and  Sharru  marched  before;  they  marched,  devasta- 
ting the  mountain  and  the  plain;  Nergal  the  powerful  dragged 
chastisements  after  him;  Adar  advanced,  overthrowing  before 
him;  the  archangels  of  the  abyss  brought  destructon;  in  their  ter- 
rors they  agitated  the  earth.  The  inundation  of  Ramman  swell- 
ed up  to  the  sky,  and  the  earth  became  without  luster,  and  wss 
changed  into  a  desert. 

"  'They  broke  *— they  destroyed  the  living  beings  of  the  sur- 
face of  the  earth.  The  terrible  flood  upon  men  swelled  up  to 
heaven.  The  brother  no  longer  saw  his  brother;  men  no  long- 
er knew  each  other.  In  heaven  the  god^s  became  afraid  of  the 
water-spout,  and  sought  a  refuge;  they  mouted  up  to  the  heav- 
en of  Anu.  The  gods  were  stretched  out  motionless,  pressing 
one  against  another  like  dogs.  Ishtar  wailed  like  a  child, — the 
goddess  pronounced  her  discourse:— "Here  is  humanity  returned 
into  mud,  and— this  is  the  misfoi-tune  that  I  have  announced 
in  the  presence  of  the  gods.  So— I  announced  the  misfortune 
in  the  presence  of  the  gods,— for  the  evil  I  announced  the  terri- 
ble chastisement  of  men,' who  are  mine.  I  am  the  mother  who 
gave  birth  to  men,  and— like  to  the  race  of  fishes,  they  are  fill- 
ing the  sea; — and  the  gods  by  reason  of  that — which  the 
archangels  of  the  abyss  are  doing,  weep  with  me."  The  gods 
on  their  seat  were  seated  in  tears,  and  they  held  thir  lips  closed, 
revolving  future  things. 


56       •  THE  WORLD-STORY 

"  'Six  clays  and  as  many  nights  passed;  the  wind,  the  water- 
spout and  the  diluvian  rain  were  in  all  their  strength.  At  the 
approach  of  the  seventh  day  the  diluvian  rain  grew  weaker, 
the  terrible  water-spout — which  had  assailed  after  the  fashion  of 
an  earthquake — grew  calm,  the  sea  inclined  to  dry  up,  and  the 
wind  and  the  water-spout  came  to  an  end.  I  looked  at  the  sea, 
intently  observing — and  the  whole  of  humanity  had  returned 
to  mud;  like  as  to  sea-weeds  the  corpses  floated.  I  opened  the 
window,  and  the  light  smote  on  my  face.  I  was  seized  with 
sadness;  I  sat  down  and  I  wept;  and  my  tears  came  over  my 
face,*' 

"  'I  looked  at  the  regions  bounding  the  sea:  toward  the 
twelve  points  of  the  horizon;  not  any  continent. — The  vessel 
was  borne  above  the  land  of  Nizir, —  the  mountain  of  Nizir  ar- 
rested the  vessel,  and  did  not  permit  it  to  pass  over; — a  day 
and  a  second  day  the  mountain  of  Nizir  arrested  the  vessel, 
and  did  not  permit  it  to  pass  over; — the  third  and  the  fourth 
day  the  mountain  of  Nazir  arrested  the  vessel,  and  did  not  per- 
mit it  to  pass  over; — the  fifth  and  the  sixth  day  the  mountain 
of  Nizir  arrested  the  vessel,  and  did  not  permit  it  to  pass  over. 
At  the  approach  of  the  seventh  day,  I  sent  out  and  loosed  a 
dove.  The  dove  went,  turned,  and — found  no  place  to  light  on, 
and  it  came  back.  I  sent  out  and  loosed  a  swallow;  the  swallow 
went,  turned,  and — and  found  no  place  to  light  on,  and  it  came 
back.  I  sent  and  loosed  a  raven;  the  raven  went  and  saw  the 
corpses  on  the  waters;  it  ate,  rested,  turned,  and  came  not  back. 

"  'I  then  sent  out  what  was  in  the  vessel  toward  the  four 
winds,  and  I  offered  a  sacrifice.  I  raised  the  pile  of  my  burnt 
offering  on  the  peak  of  the  mountain;  seven  by  seven  I  disposed 
the  measured  vases  ,— and  beneath  I  spread  rushes,  cedar,  and 
juniper  wood.  The  gods  were  seized  with  a  desire  of  it — the 
gods  were  seized  with  a  benevolent  desire  of  it;— and  the  gods 
assembled  like  flies  above  the  master  of  the  sacrifice.  From 
afar,  in  approaching,  the  great  goddess  raised  the  great  zones 
that  Anu  had  made  for  the  glory  of  the  god.  These  gods,  lu- 
minous crystal  before  me,  I  will  never  leave  them.  Let  the 
gods  come  to  my  sacrificial  pile — but  never  may  Bel  come  to  my 
sacrificial  pile!  for  he  did  not  master  himself,  and  he  has  made 
the  water-spout  for  the  deluge;  and  he  has  numbered  my  men 
for  the  pit!" 


DELUGE  TABLETS  57 

'"From  fiir,  in  drawinu'  near,  Bel — saw  the  vessel,  and  Bel 
stopped; — he  lilled  with  anger  against  the  gods  and  celestial 
archangels: — 

" '  No  one  shall  come  out  alive!  No  man  shall  be  preserved 
fi'om  the  abyss!" — Adar  opened  his  mouth  and  said;  he  said  to 
t lie  warrior  Bel: — "What  other  than  Ea  should  have  formed 
this  resolution? — for  Ea  possesses  knowledge;  and  foresees  all." 
Ea  opened  liis  mouth  and  spake;  he  said  to  the  warrior  Bel:  "O 
thou,  herald  of  the  gods,  warrior, — as  thou  didst  not  master 
thyself,  thou  hast  made  the  water-sj^out  of  the  deluge.  Let  the 
sinner  carry  the  weight  of  his  sins,  and  the  blasphemer  the 
weight  of  his  blasphemy.  Please  thyself  with  this  good  pleas- 
ure, and  it  shall  never  be  infringed;  faith  in  it  shall  never  be 
violated.  Instead  of  making  a  new  deluge,  let  lions  appear  and 
reduce  the  number  of  men;  instead  of  making  a  new  deluge,  let 
hyenas  appear  and  reduce  the  number  of  men;  instead  of  mak- 
ing new  deluge,  let  there  be  famine,  and  let  the  earth  be  deso- 
lated; instead  of  thy  making  a  new  deluge,  let  Dibbara  appear, 
and  let  men  be  mown  down.  I  have  not  revealed  the  decision 
of  the  great  gods:  it  is  Khasisatra  who  interpreted  a  dream 
and  comprehended  what  the  gods  had  decided." 

"'Then,  when  his  resolve  was  aiTested,  Bel  entered  into  the 
vessel.  He  took  my  hand  and  made  me  rise.  He  made 
my  wife  rise,  and  made  her  }>lace  herself  at  my  side.  He  turn- 
ed around  us  and  stopped  short:  he  approached  our  group. — 
"Until  now  Khasisatra  has  made  part  of  perishable  humanity; 
but  lo,  now  Khasisatra  and  his  wife  are  going  to  be  carried  away 
to  live  like  the  gods,  and  Khasisatra  will  reside  afar  at  the 
mouth  of  the  rivers." — They  ciirried  me  away,  and  established 
me  in  a  remote  place  at  the  mouth  of  the  streams.' " 

Berosus  wrote  his  version  of  the  Chaldean  legend,  at 
the  time  of  Alexander's  residence  at  Babylon.  It  shows 
that,  at  that  time,  fanciful  additions  had  been  made  to 
the  original  document.  It  reads  as  follows; 

"Obartes  Elbaratutu  being  dead,  his  son  Xisuthros  (Khasisa- 
tra) reigned  eighteen  saras  (04,800  years).  It  was  under  him 
that  the  Great  Deluge  took  place,  the  history  of  which  is  told  in 
the  sacred  documents  as  follows:  Cronos  (Ea)  appeared  to  him 
in  his  sleep,  and  announced  that  on  the  fifteenth  of  the  month 


58  THE  WORLD-STORY 

of  Daisies  all  men  should  perish  by  the  flood.  He  therefore 
commanded  him  to  take  the  beginning,  the  middle,  and  the 
end  of  whatsoever  is  committed  to  writing,  and  to  bury  it  in 
the  city  of  the  sun,  at  Sippara;  then  to  build  a  vessel,  and  to 
enter  it  with  his  family  and  dearest  friends;  to  place  in  this 
vessel  provisions  to  eat  and  to  drink,  and  to  cause  animals, 
birds,  and  quadrupeds  to  enter  it;  lastly,  to  prepare  everything 
for  navigation.  And  when  Xisuthros  inquired  in  what  direc- 
tion he  should  steer  his  bark,  he  was  answered,  'toward  the 
gods,'  and  enjoined  to  pray  that  good  might  come  of  it  for  men. 

"Xisuthros  obeyed,  and  constructed  a  vessel  five  stadia  long 
and  five  broad;  he  collected  all  that  had  been  prescribed  to  him, 
and  embarked  his  wife,  his  children,  and  his  intimate  friends. 

"The  Deluge  having  come,  and  soon  going  down,  Xisuthros 
loosed  some  birds.  These,  finding  no  food  nor  place  to  alight 
on,  returned  to  the  ship.  A  few  days  later  Xisuthros  again  let 
them  free,  but  they  returned  again  to  the  vessel,  their  feet  full 
of  mud.  finally,  loosd  a  third  time,  the  birds  came  no  more 
back.  Then  Xisuthros  understood  that  the  earth  was  bare. 
He  made  an  opening  in  the  roof  of  the  ship,  and  saw  that  it 
had  grounded  on  the  top  of  a  mountain.  He  then  descended 
with  his  wife,  his  daughter,  and  pilot,  who  worshipped  the  earth, 
raised  an  altar,  and  there  sacrificed  to  the  gods;  at  the  same 
moment  he  vanished  with  those  who  accompanied  him. 

"Meanwhile  those  who  had  remained  in  the  vessel;  not  seeing 
Xisuthros  return,  descended  too,  and  began  to  seek  him,  calling 
him  by  his  name.  They  saw  Xisuthros  no  more;  but  a  voice 
from  heaven  was  heard  commanding  them  to  piety  toward  the 
gods;  that  he,  indeed,  was  receiving  the  reward  of  his  piety  in 
being  carried  away  to  dwell  thenceforth  in  the  midst  of  the 
gods,  and  that  his  wife,  his  daughter,  and  the  pilot  of  the  ship 
shared  the  same  honor.  The  voice  further  said  that  they  were 
to  return  to  Babylon,  and,  conformably  with  the  decrees  of 
fiite,  disinter  the  writings  buried  at  Sippara,  in  order  to  trans- 
mit them  to  men.  It  added  that  the  country  in  which  they 
found  thomselves  was  Armenia.  These,  then,  having  heard 
the  voice,  sacrificed  to  the  gods  and  returned  on  foot  to  Babylon. 
Of  the  vessel  of  Xisuthros,  which  had  finally  landed  in  Arme- 
nia, a  portion  is  still  to  be  found  in  the  Gordyan  mountains  in 
Armenia,  and  pilgrims  bring  thence  asphalte  that  they  have 


DELUGE  TABLETS  59 

scraped  from  its  fragments.  It  is  used  to  keep  off  the  influence 
of  witchcnift.  As  to  the  companions  of  Xisuthros,  they  came 
to  Babylon,  disinterred  the  writing  left  at  Sippara,  founded 
numerous  cities,  built  temples,  and  restored  Babylon. 

The  burying  of  records  at  Sippara  not  being  in  the 
version  of  the  story  fifteen  hundred  years  older  than 
this  one,  proves  that  it  was  a  fiction;  and  therefore  the 
extensive  search  for  those  writings,  during  many  centu- 
ries, was  futile.  Mr.  Rassam,  agent  of  the  British  Mu- 
seum has  recently,  and  accidentally,  found  a  mound  in 
the  Tigris  Valley,  called  Abou-hubba,  which  has  proved 
to  be  the  ruins  of  Sippara,  the  Sepharvaim  of  Scripture. 

It  is  six  miles  from  the  Tigris,  on  a  canal  once  fed 
from  that  river.  The  mound  is  1,300  feet  long  by  400 
wide,  and  contains  hundreds  of  chambers,  and  very  ma- 
ny terra-cotta  cylinders  and  tablets.  Here  Nebuchad- 
nezzar and  other  kings,  some  of  them  as  early  as  1,300 
B.  C,  searched  for  records,  supposed  to  have  been  buried 
under  the  foundation  of  the  temple  of  the  sun-god,  Ul- 
dur,  in  the  part  of  Sippara  called  Agani,  which  is  the  Ac- 
cad  of  Nimrod's  reign,  and  the  Agade  of  Sargon's  time. 
We  next  have  in  this  connection  a  narrative  taken  from 
a  barrel  found  in  the  ruins  of  Ur,  inscribed  by  Nabun- 
ahid,  who  reigned  550  B.  C.  From  this  we  learn  that 
when  Sagaraktyas  reconstructed  the  pyramidal 
temple  of  Ammis(same  as  Ulbar),  he  made  tablets  in 
imitation  of  those  deposited  in  Sippara  by  Xisuthros. 
The  date  of  this  transaction  was  before  3,800  B.  C.  It 
is  not  known  what  the  barrels  of  Sagaraktyas  contained. 
Whatever  the  writing  was,  it  had  become  legendary, 
just  as  the  tables  of  Larsam,  hidden  by  Xisuthros,  had, 
at  the  time  these  supposed  transcripts  were  buried.  After 
five  hundred  years  had  passed,  Kuri  Galzu,  a  king  of  the 
4th  or  5th  dynasty,  searched  again  for  the  buried  records, 


60  THE  WORLD-STORY 

and  left  a  record  saying  that  he  had  searched  for  the 
corner  stone  and  had  not  fonnd  it,  Esarhaddon,  in  his 
day,  searched  for  the  holy  tables;  and,  later,  Neb- 
uchadnezzar had  his  army  search  for  them.  Still  later, 
Nabonidus  says  that  he  had  directed  his  army  to  searh 
for  the  corner  stone  in  the  place  where  Nebnchadnezzar's 
army  had  made  a  trench,  but  the  tempest  of  water  had 
inundated  everything;  but  that  he  had  finally  found 
the  corner  stone,  with  the  name  of  Sagaraktyas  at  the 
bottom  of  it,  and  his  inscription  that  he  had  replaced 
"the  foundations  of  the  barrel  of  the  East  and  the  barrel 
of  the  West." 

We  are  not  told  what  was  inscribed  on  these  barrels, 
and  it  does  not  appear  that  any  former  tables  were  ever 
found.  The  Tables  of  Larsam  must  take  their  place 
with  the  Pillar  of  Seth  that  Josephus  says  he  saw  in  the 
Syriadic  land,  and  with  the  antediluvian  record  of  the 
Egyptian  Thoth,  mentioned  by  Manetho.  The  story  of 
buried  records  was  the  natural  outo-rowth  of  the  mental 
hunger  to  know  more  of  a  great  mystery,  and  that  spir- 
itual yearning  to  lift  the  veil  of  the  past  that  has  haunt- 
ed all  the  ages,  and  is  active  yet.  The  ancients  ought  to 
have  known  that  the  Ark  was  as  well  adapted  for  the 
transmission  of  records  as  of  animals;  and  in  view  of 
the  fact  that  it  could  not  be  known  where  the  Ark  would 
be  borne,  it  would  have  been  imprudent  to  have  buried 
precious  records.  The  search  for  the  the  Tables  of  Lar- 
sam was  like  the  search  by  the  Britons  for  the  Holy  Grail, 

The  Aramean  legend  of  the  flood  stands  next  to  the 
Hebrew  and  the  Chaldaic  accounts  in  importance.  It 
proceeds  to  say: 

"The  actual  race  of  men  is  not  the  first,  for  there  was  a  prev- 
ious one,  all  the  members  of  which  pei'ished.  We  belong  to  a 
second  race,  descended  from  Deucalion,  and  multiplied  in  the 


DELUGE  TABLETS.  61 

coarse  of  time.  As  to  the  former  men,  they  are  said  to 
have  been  full  of  insolence  and  pride,  committing  many  crimes, 
disregarding  their  oaths,  neglecting  the  rights  of  hospitality 
unsparing  to  suppliants;  accordingly,  they  were  punished  by 
an  immense  disaster.  All  on  a  sudden  enormous  volumes  of  wa- 
ter issued  from  the  earth,  and  rains  of  extraordinary  abundance 
began  to  fall;  the  rivers  left  their  beds,  and  the  sea  overflowed 
its  shores;  the  whole  earth  was  covered  with  water,  and  all  men 
perished.  £)eucalion  alone,  because  of  his  virtue  and  piety, 
was  preserved  alive  to  give  birth  to  a  new  race.  This  is  how 
he  was  saved:  He  placed  himself,  his  children,  and  his  wives  in 
a  great  coffer  that  he  had,  in  which  pigs,  horses,  lions,  serpents 
and  all  other  terrestrial  animals  came  to  seek  refuge  with  him. 
lie  received  them  all;  and  while  they  were  in  the  coffer  Zeus 
inspired  them  with  reciprocal  amity,  which  prevented  their  de- 
vouring one  another.  In  this  manner,  shut  up  within  one 
single  coffer,  they  floated  as  long  as  the  waters  remained  in 
force.    Such  is  the  account  given  by  the  Gi'eeks  of  Deucalion. 

The  memory  of  this  deluge  was  perpetuated  by  a  semi- 
annual ceremony  at  the  temple  of  Hieropolis.  The  ac- 
count is  interesting  as  showing  the  belief  of  the  Greeks 
before  they  heard  of  the  engulfing  of  Atlantis. 

The  sinking  of  Atlantis — admitting  the  truth  of  the 
story — cannot  be  called  a  flood.  The  legend  is  said  to 
have  been  brought  from  Egypt,  but  as  it  conflicts  wath 
the  known  traditions  of  that  country,  it  must  be  a  Greek 
fiction.  It  represents  Atlantis  as  a  rival  of  Athens, 
wliich  makes  it  unnecessary  to  have  gone  to  Egypt 
for  the  story;  after  Athens  was  old  enough  to  fight  a 
great  naval  battle  with  and  repulse  Atlantis,  the  great- 
est Empire  of  ancient  times,  she  was  old  enough  to  take 
care  of  her  own  history.  If  the  Athenians  and  Atlant- 
eans  were  rivals  the  former  should  have  knoM'u  tlie 
fate  of  the  latter,  but  we  find  the  whole  story  as  related 
to  Socrates,  in  the  Tima^us,  entirely  new  to  that  erudite 
individual,     Socrates  did  not  get  indignant  at  being  in- 


62  THE  WORLD-STORY 

structed  in  this  Egyptian  invention  which  made  the 
flood  of  Deucalion  a  fiction,  and  the  celebration  twice  a 
year  by  a  festival  and  by  carrying  an  ark  in  procession, 
a  folly;  he  only  said,  mildly,  "What  is  this  famous  ac- 
tion of  which  Critias  spoke?"  &c.  Plutarch  disposes  of 
the  subject  satisfactorily  as  follows:  "Solon  attempted,  in 
verse,  a  large,  or  rather  fabulous  account  of  the  Atlantis 
Island."  The  account,  then,  is  the  poetry  of  Solon  and 
the  political  philosophy  of  Plato,  mingled  with  the  the  na- 
tional traditions  of  the  Paradisaical  Mount,  and  never 
was  regarded  as  history  until  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg, 
more  imaginative  than  the  Greeks,  thought  he  discover- 
ed it  duplicated  in  ancient  Central  American  records. 

The  Thessalians  had  a  flood  legend  quite  like  that  of 
the  Arameans,  and  which  is  represented  as  very  ancient. 
The  memory  was  perpetuated  at  Athens,  by  a  ceremony 
called  Hydrophoria. 

In  the  Hindoo  version  a  fish  is  made  to  say: 

"The  very  day  that  I'shall  have  attained  my  full  growth  the 
Deluge  will  happen.  Then  build  a  vessel  and  worship  me. 
When  the  water  rises,  enter  the  vessel  and  I  will  save  thee." 

In  another  form  of  the  Hindoo  legend  occur  the 
words,  "In  seven  days  the  three  worlds  shall  be  sub- 
merged." 

The  Iranian  version  dates  "very  far  back."  In  it  the 
father  of  the  human  race  is  warned  by  a  good  divinity 
that  the  world  is  soon  to  be  devastated  by  a  flood.. 

The  Chinese  say  the  second  heaven  was  introduced 
by  a  great  convulsion: 

"The  pillars  of  heaven  were  broken;  the  earth  shook  to  its 
foundations;  the  heavens  sunk  lower  toward  the  earth;  the  sun, 
moon  and  stars  changed  their  motion;  the  earth  fell  to  pieces, 
and  the  waters  enclosed  within  its  bosom  burst  forth  with  vio- 
lence, and  overflowed  it;  man  haviug  rebelled  against  heaven, 
the  system  of  the  universe  was  totally  disordered." 


DELUGE  TABLETS.  03 

The  Scaiidanavians,  Welsh,  Goths,  Lithurians,  Phryg- 
ians, Malays,  Polynesians  and  Americans  have,  or  had, 
original  traditions  of  the  flood. 

The  difference  between  the  Bible  and  the  traditions,  as 
to  Avhere  the  Ark  rested,  is  more  apparent  than  real. 
Berosus  says  it  was  on  the  Gordyan  Mountains,  east  of 
Assyria,  but  we  have  seen  that  his  account  is  a  reflex 
of  the  opinion  of  his  times.  Bitumen  is  a  natural 
product  of  the  locality  designated  by  him,  and  it  is 
probable  that  the  ignorant  and  superstitious  "pilgrims" 
of  that  day,  like  those  of  later  times,  were  hunting  for 
a  delusion.  The  inscriptions  call  the  mountain  of  the 
Ark,  Nizir,  which,  says  Mr.  Smith,  "according  to  an  in- 
scription of  Assur-nazur-pal,  king  of  Assyria,  who  made 
an  expedition  thithei',  lay  east  of  Assyria,  and  formed 
part  of  a  series  of  mountains  extending  to  the  northwest 
of  Armenia."  In  Kings  and  Isaiah  Ararat  is  translated 
Armenia;  and  it  is  now  held  by  Biblical  authorities 
that  what  is  intended  in  the  narrative  of  the  deluge  by 
mountains  of  Ararat,  is  the  mountains  of  Armenia;  i.  e. 
the  Armenian  plateau,  which  extends  far  south  and 
east  of  the  peak  now  called  Ararat. 

We  have  had  the  testimony  of  geology  that  the  voy- 
age of  the  Ark  began  and  ended  in  the  North  Temper- 
ate Zone.  There  is  a  search  going  on  in  the  Tigris  val- 
ley for  monuments  and  mementoes  of  the  antediluvian 
age;  but  the  traditions  that  point  to  that  valley  as  the  home 
of  the  last  five  antediluvian  kings  are  in  conflict  with 
the  traditions  that  fix  the  original  abode  in  other  parts. 
The  idea  that  Central  Asia  was  an  antediluvian  seat 
and  post-diluvian  center  probably  grew  out  of  the  tradi- 
tion of  the  Paradisaical  Mount;  and  besides,  that  being 
the  highest  part  of  the  known  world,  it  was  natural  for  a 
primitive  people  to  regard  it  as  a   sacred  region,  and  a 


64 


THE  WORLD-STORY 


place  wliere  the  gods  came  down;  but  there  is  nothing 
to  justify  modern  scientists  in  holding  similar  views 
concerning  it.  The  search  for  Eden  in  any  part  of  the 
Eastern  Continent  has  been  abortive,  and  is  likely  to 
continue  so  to  be.  The  diversity  of  opinion  that  has  ex- 
isted from  the  earliest  times,  proves  that  no  one  has  known 
which  way  to  turn  his  eyes  to  find  the  ancestral  abode. 
Neither  Noah,  nor  his  sons  or  grand-sons,  had  any  knowl- 
edge of  its  locality  to  trasmit,  or  they  would  have  done  it. 
The  Ark  had  rested  in,  to  them,  a  new  world. 

Cattle  were  domesticated  from  wild  herds  similar  to 
buffalos;  sheep  from  a  wild  race  now  extinct.  The  use 
of  the  horse,  ass,  and  goat  dates  back  beyond  the  limits 
of  research,  and  no  instance  of  recent  domestication 
is  known.  The  llama,  only,  was  domesticated  in  modern 
America,     The  Shetland  pony  is  a  case  of  degeneracy. 

The  animals  and  plants  upon  Avhich  man  dejjends  for 
his  comfort  and  progress  as  a  civilized  being,  come 
principally  from  Western  Asia,  and  can  be  traced  no- 
where else.  There  is  no  physical  reason  why  Western 
Asia  should  have  been  the  world's  nursery  and  advanc- 
ed breeding  ground;  and  why  it  should  have  been  pro- 
lific of  certain  indispensible  species,  which  other  lands 
of  like  conditions  are  destitute  of.  The  sciences  of  plant- 
ology  and  biology  are  at  fault,  and  have  remained  silent 
when  pressed  for  explanation.  This  want  and  void  in 
science  gives  occasion  for  the  assumption  that  these 
indispensibles  were  taken  there  by  the  ancestors  of  the 
nations.  Plants  and  animals  have  no  speech  and  yet 
can  be  questioned.  Man  has  speech  and  by  it  he  can 
be  infallibly  trailed  through  all  his  labyrinthine  wan- 
derings, no  matter  how  many  times  he  has  crossed  his 
track.  Man  has  now,  and  in  that  way,  been  traced  back 
to  a  miraculous  situation.     The  term  miraculous  is  the 


DELUGE  TABLETS.  65 

only  one  that  will  describe  the  couditions.      There   are 
no  natural  principles  by  which  we  can    account  for  the 
fact  that  humanity  had  a  new  starting  point  mid-way  in 
its  career.     It  is  a  verdict  of  science  that   the   date    of 
Noah,  or  Babel — or  whatever  may  be    the   furthest   re- 
vealment  of  philology — is  but  midway  between  the  pres- 
ent and  the  time  of  the  first  peopling  of   the  earth;  yet 
in  the  household  of  Noah,  or  some  single  tribe,  the  histo- 
ry (jf  the   world   re-centered    as    a   new   starting  point. 
Science  is  kept  busy  getting  up  theories  in  explanation 
that  will  reduce  the  miraculous  element  to  a  minimum, 
but  is    prepared  to    admit   that   something  very   extra- 
ordinary has  occurred.     It  follows,  that   having    to  ad- 
mit that  the  human    race  took  a  new  start    in   Western 
Asia,  they  should  admit  that  domestic    animals   took    a 
new  start  from  the  same  place,  and  also  as  a  part  of  the 
same  miraculous  or  extraordinary  happening.    The  facts 
that  mankind,  after  thousands  of  years  of   divergence, 
was  reduced  to  a  single  point  of  radiation  again,  and  to  a 
single  form   of   speech,  proves  the  storj^  of   the    Flood, 
the  known  facts  can  not  be  fitted    together   any   other 
way.   The  same  vicissitudes  had  attended,  plants,  animals 
and  man;  whatever  had  preserved  him  from  a  universal 
cataclysm,  had  also  preserved  them.     Logical  deduction 
necessitates  the  explanation  afforded  by  the  story  of  the 
Ark,  and  if  it  had  not  come  down  to  us  from  a  thousand 
sources,  we  would  have  to  supply  its  place  from  the  im- 
agination.    If  the  Hebrew  narrative   had   perished,  the 
legends  and  traditions  of  neighboring  nations  would  have 
supplied  the  loss;  if  the  old-world  accounts  had  all  been 
obliterated,  a  nearly  full  account  could  have  been  made 
up  from  American  sources;  if  these  had  also  failed.  Sci- 
ence would  have  been  under  the  necessity  of  constructing 
a  hypothesis  to  meet  the  case,  jus,t  as  it   filled   out  the 


66  THE  AVOKLD-STORY 

planetary  orbits  and  periods  before  Neptune  was  brought 
to  sight.  In  trying  to  shrink  the  proportions  of  the 
Flood,  science  is  belittling  itself.  Nothing  but  an  aw- 
ful, world-wide  ruin  could  have  so  impressed  itself  upon 
the  traditions  of  the  race;  and  nothing  less  than  a  conti- 
nental desolation  by  water  will  meet  the  specific  con- 
ditions arrived  at  by  scientific  research. 

A  peculiarity  of  all  flood  legends  is  that  they  represent 
the  event  as  a  punitive  visitation.  Without  this  idea 
there  would  not  have  been  enough  of  interest  created, 
to  have  secured  the  general  perpetuation  of  the  great 
tradition.  By  this  awful  element  in  the  traditions  the 
fact  has  been  kept  before  the  nations  that  there  is  a 
Providence  over  them,  and  that  they  are  held  to  an  ac- 
countability.    Cowper  has  expressed  the  thought: 

"There  is  a  time,  and  justice  marks  the  date, 
For  long-forbearing  clemency  to  wait; 
That  hour  elapsed,  the  incurable  revolt 
Is  punished,  and  down  comes  the  thunderbolt. 

Science  can  not  see  an  inch  before  its  nose.  Proph- 
etic announcements  are  interspersed  in  the  inspired  nar- 
rative, and  are  a  distinguishing  feature  of  it.  "Behold  I, 
even  I,  do  bring  in  a  flood."  Herein  is  something  more 
and  mightier  than  the  flood.     It  is  that  which 

"taught  the  nations  of  the  field  and  wood, 
Prescient,  the  tides  and  tempests  to  withstand." 

Again,  "God  shall  enlarge  Japheth,"etc.  In  this  is  a 
statement  of  the  condition  of  the  world  we  help  to  make 
up.  It  includes  us  and  our  actions  and  our  life.  No 
expression  can  be  given  to  the  thought  this  fact  brings 
to  view.  We,  great  and  small,  are  the  infinitesimal 
parts  of  a  panorama  flashed  upon  the  startled  sight, 
vaster  than  words  can  tell  or  mind  concieve.  The  God 
of  the"  infinite  worlds  and  infinite   spaces  and   ages,  has 


DELUGE  TABLETS.  67 

nerved  the  hand  that  wrote  the  words.  We  are  conclud- 
ed in  a  sclieme  reaching  backward  and  forward  without 
bercinnins:  or  end. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

ARARAT. 

"Ararat  means  the  plains  of  the  Aryans,  the  ancient  name  of 
the  plateau  through  which  flows  the  Aras  or  Araxes.  It  occupies 
the  center  of  the  mountian  region  of  Armenia,  belonging  partly 
to  Turkey  and  partly  to  Russia.  Notwithstanding  the  passage  in 
Genesis  where  it  is  said  that  the  ark  rested  on  the  mountains 
of  Ararat,  it  has  become  common  to  give  the  name  Ararat,  not 
to  the  entire  range,  but  to  the  mountain  called  by  the  Armeni- 
ans, Massis  Lensar,  i.  e.  Mountain  of  the  Ark,  and  known 
among  the  Persians  as  Noah's  Mountain,  a  solitary  volcanic 
cone,  covered  with  perpetual  snow,  and  rising  to  the  height  of 
17,212  feet,the  highest  elevation  of  Western  Asia."    Am.  C. 

Escape  from  a  flood  by  an  ark,  includes  the  fact  that 
there  were  skilled  artizans  in  the  times  beyond  the  flood. 
At  the  earliest  date  after  that  event,  a  vf  onderf  ul  degree  of 
culture  and  intelligence  was  manifested.  Ancient  gems 
found  at  Babylon  are  perfactly  wrought.  The  son  of 
the  first  Pharaoh  wrote  a  book  on  anatomy.  Sargon,  in 
Akkadia,  B.  C.  3,800,  had  a  book  Avritten  on  astrology. 
The  legendary  pillars  of  Seth  and  the  stellre  of  Thoth  w'ere 
for  preserving  the  astronomical  lore  of  the  former  age. 
The  author  of  the  book  of  Enoch  docs  not  tell  us  what 
Avere  the  signs,  and  motions  of  the  moon,  and  observance 
of  the  stars  taught  by  Azaradel,  Akibul  and  Barkayal 
before  the  flood,  but  Ave  knoAV  something  about  Avhat 
was  taught  soon  after.  Going  to  the  cuneiform  inscrip- 
tions Ave  find  that  the  founding  of  the  first  government, 
the  laying  out  of  the  oldest  cities,  and  the  first  division  Of 


ARARAT  09 

the  lands,  were  in  accordance  with  a  sacred  system  of 
geography  and  uranology.  The  controlling  idea  in  the 
system  was  that  the  north  star  was  the  throne  of  God. 
They  also  believed  that  the  north  polar  region  was  Par- 
adise, the  northern  hemisphere  of  the  earth  Avas  the 
abode  of  men,  the  southern  hemisphere  the  abode  of 
disembodied  spirits,  and  that  the  south  polar  heaven 
was  the  "funereal  point,"  the  abode  of  the  damned. 
They  knew  that  the  earth  is  spherical,  and  knew  that 
the  stars  of  the  south  pole  revolve  around  a  central  point, 
just  as  they  do  in  the  northern  sky.  This  knowledge 
iliey  liad  of  the  northern  sky,  is  used  by  some  recent 
authors  to  prove  that  the  antediluvian  ancestors  had  liv- 
ed at  the  North  Pole;  but  the  same  reasoning  would  prove 
that  they  had  lived  at  the  South  Pole,  for  they 
luid  a  like  knowledge  of  it.  The  facts  show  that  some  of 
the  remote  ancestors  had  crossed  the  equinoctial  line  and, 
•also,  that,  farther  back  than  tradition  or  exploration  can 
reacli,  the  great  problem  of  the  shape  of  the  earth  had 
been  worked  out.  These  facts  show  the  extent  of  ante- 
diluvian knowledge.  It  was  a  knowledge  that  the  earth 
is  spherical,  but  not  that  it  revolves  around  the  sun. 
The  first  philosophers  saw  the  Great  Bear  boxing  the 
compass  with  his  tail,  and  thought  the  heavens  revolved. 
All  this  shows  a  near  kinship  to  ourselves;  the  sublimest 
spectacle  on  which  the  generations  have  gazed,  is  the 
wheeling  constellations  around  their  central  star.  Later 
speculators  placed  the  divinity  in  the  sun,  the  source  of 
warmth  and  life;  the  former  was  the  greater  conception, 
of  a  central  and  fixed  abode  of  the  Supreme,  All-ruling 
God.  There  was  but  one  such  place  possible  to  their  con- 
ceptions, knowing  no  more  than  they  did. 

That  these  ideas  originated  with  the  antediluvians, 
seems  placed  beyond  doubt;  and  we  may  suppose  that  the 


70  THE  WORLD-STORY 

northern  constellation  was  an  object  of  interest  to  Noah 
and  his  sons,  landed  on  a  continent  where  everything  i 
was  strange  but  the  familiar,  guiding  stars.  And  if 
they  thought  the  Pole  Star  the  throne  of  God,  it  was  no 
discredit  to  their  intelligence;  and  the  supposition  that 
they  did,  will  help  to  account  for  the  identity  of  belief 
among  the  tribes  and  races  sprung  from  them. 

With  this  belief  in  a  polar  heaven  was  held  the  corres- 
ponding idea  that  directly  under  this  Celestial  abode, 
was  the  Earthly  Paradise,  the  two  having  a  common  axis; 
and  it  was  supposed  there  was  communication  between 
the  two,  and  that  the  immortals  descended  from  the  one, 
and  the  souls  of  the  blessed  ascended  from  the  other. 
The  name  Euphrates  was,  by  the  Akkadians,  made  to 
mean  "the  rope  of  the  world,"  "encircling  river  of  the 
snake-god  of  the  tree  of  life,"  the  heavenly  river  which 
coming  down  from  the  celestial  Eden,  divided  into  four 
streams  encircling  the  earth;  showing  that  they  believed 
that  the  true  Euphrates  was  a  heavenly  stream,  after 
which  the  earthly  one  was  named. 

The  Hindoo  sages  refined  upon  this  ancient  system 
of  uranography  and  mythical  geography,  without  im- 
proving its  beanty.  They  adapted  it  to  their  parallel 
mountain  ranges,  and  invented  a  polar  projection  (like 
the  equinoctial  projection  described  by  Columbus),  but- 
tressed by  four  lesser  domes,  and  called  it  Mount  Meru. 
The  most  ancient  texts  of  the  Zend-Avesta  refer  to  it, 
as  do  those  of  the  Mahabharata  and  the  Puranas.  The 
Buddhists  have  perpetuated  these  gross  conceptions,  and 
they  are  sacred  to  many  millions  of  worshipers.  Our 
Zion  is  a  later  adaptation  of  the  Holy  Hill. 

The  Iranian  faith  is  thus  stated  by  M.  Lenormant: 

"Like  ]\Ieru  of  the  Indians,  Haraberezaiti  is  the  pole,  the  cen- 
ter of  the  world,  the  fixed  point  around  which  the  sun  and  the 


ARARAT  71 

planets  perform  their  revolutions.  Analogously  to  the  Ganga  of 
the  Brahmans  it  possesses  the  celestial  fountain,  Ardvi-Sura,  the 
mother  of  all  terrestrial  water  and  the  source  of  all  good  things. 
In  the  midst  of  the  lake  formed  by  the  waters  of  the  sacred 
source,  grows  a  single  miraculous  tree,  similar  to  the  jambu  of 
the  Indian  myth,  or  else  two  trees,  corresponding  exactly  to 
those  of  the  Biblical  Gan  Eden.  There  is  the  garden  of  Ahu- 
ramazda,  like  that  of  Brahma  on  Meru.  Thence  the  waters  des- 
cend toward  the  four  cardinal  points  in  four  large  streams,"  etc. 

The  Japanese  cosmology  includes  these  ancient  ideas, 
with  local  variations,  as:  "  The  island  of  the  congealed 
drop  is  situated  at  the  pole  of  the  earth,  and  over  it  is 
'the  pivot  of  the  vault  of  heaven.'" 

The  Chinese  have  a  tradition  of  Eden,  with  a  tree  in 
the  midst,  and  the  fountain  of  immortality  from  which 
proceed  four  rivers,  flowing  in  opposite  directions  to  the 
four  quarters  of  the  earth. 

The  Persians  believed  in  a  Chinvat  bridge,  reaching 
from  the  pole  of  the  earth  to  the  pole  of  the  heavens. 
Mahomet  incorporated  it  into  his  wild  scheme. 

The  Egyptians  conceived  of  the  earth  as  rising  to- 
ward the  north,  so  that  at  last  its  northernmost  point 
joined  the  sky  and  supported  it,  and  that  at  the  ex- 
treme south  Avas  another  mountain,  "the  horn  of  the 
world,"  corresponding  to  the  Ku  Meru  of  the  Hindoos. 

Menzel  says;  "The  oldest  of  the  Greek  Gods,  Kronos, 
we  must  concieve  of  as  enthroned  at  the  North  Pole." 

It  is  evident  now  why  Plato  placed  in  the  center  of 
his  island  a  hig:h  mountain  surrounded  with  canals.  Pie 
was  dreaming  of  Paradise. 

Aristotle  thought  that  the  Caucasus  w'as  the  Mount 
of  Paradise.  The  sight  of  the  revolving  stars  explains 
the  faith  of  the  ancients  concerning  their  future  abode, 
and  we  must  suppose  the  true  tradition  of  Eden  became 
blended  with  a  false  faith.     The  locality  of  Eden  being 


72  THE  WORLD-STORY 

lost,  it  was  natural  to  re-locate  it  in  a  place  sacred  as  the 
way  of  ascent  to  heaven.     It  is  probable  that  this  mis- 
take of  the  ancients  came  in  gradually  after  the  loss  of 
the  true  faith;  however  this  may  be,  it  is  not  necessary 
for  us  to  make  the  same.     It  is  necessary  to  discriminate, 
and  not  to    either  accept   or   reject   evidence    in    mass. 
There    is  no  mention  of  the    origin  of  the  race    in   con- 
nection with  the  polar  abode;  it  is  the  Paradise  of  the  fu- 
ture, and  not  of  the  past,  and   represents  the  idea  of  Zi- 
on  rather  than  of  Eden.     The    quadrifurcate   river  and 
mystical  tree  are  common  to  both    Eden  and    the   polar 
mount,  but  this  is  the  blending  of  separate  conceptions. 
The  Hebrew  Eden  is  characterized  by  phrases  that  can 
not  be  applied  to   the   polar   realm,    as,  "eastward  in," 
"the  gold  of  that  land,"  etc. 

The  Paradise  myth,  like  the  flood  legend,  proves  that 
the  nations  that  cherished  it  were  one  dis-severed  family, 
that  is  all;  when  they  each  learn  their  own  history,  they 
can  be  a  family  again — that  is  much. 

The  weightier  part  of  the  world's  learning  inclines 
the  beam  in  favor  of  Pamir  s  high  plain  (Central  Asia)  as 
the  only  starting  place  of  the  nations,  either  before  or 
after  the  flood — if  there  was  one.  The  argument,  in 
brief,  is  that  its  river  system  makes  it  answer  to  the 
four  rivers  of  Eden,  and  that  it  is  now  central  ground 
between  Aryan  and  Turanian  races.  The  quadri- 
fircate  river  has  been  sufficiently  discussed,  and  as  to 
the  nations,  they  have  all  moved  and  removed;  the  Ary- 
ans moved  furthest  west,  and  the  Turanians  furthest 
east,  and  now  have  common  boundaries  in  different  lo- 
calities; and  the  Semitic  nations  have  never  bordered  on 
Pamir.  Pamir  differs  from  Lemuria  and  Symmzonia 
and  Atlantis  in  being  above   high-water   mark,  but   its 


ARARAT  7S 

prominence  as  a  cradle  land  is   no  greater   than  theirs, 
except  in  a  geographical  sense. 

As  no  resting  place  for  the  Ark  can  be  found  in  the 
East,  we  can  do  no  better  than  to  come  back  to  the 
nioutains  of  Armenia.  The  only  objection  made  to  that 
locality  is  that  it  is  not  toward  the  East;  but,  suppos- 
ing the  first  families  to  have  occupied  the  valleys  lead- 
ing down  to  the  Caspian  Sea,  and  tlien  followed  the 
shore  of  that  sea  to  the  southward,  their  position  would 
liave  been  eastward  of  the  Tigris. 

Prof.  Valentine  has  remarked  the  similarity  of  the 
names  of  five  cities  near  Ararat  to  five  names  of  ancient 
l)laces  in  Mexico;  "The  first  name,  Choi,  is  contained  in 
Cholula:  the  second,  Colua,  in  Coluacan;  the  third,  Zu- 
vana,  in  Zuivan;  Cholima  is  to  day  written  Colima;  Za- 
lisca  is  contained  in  Zalesco." 


CHAPTER  IX. 

BABEL. 

The  first  thinsr  constructed  after  the  flood  was  an  Al- 
tar,  which  shows  what  worship  consisted  of,  and  what 
the  custom  of  pious  men  had  been  in  former  times. 
The  next  labor  mentioned  is  the  building  of  a  Tower. 
The  world  was  yet  of  one  speech;  but,  probably,  not 
all  in  one  place.  Much  time  had  elapsed,  some  say 
two  hundred  and  seventy-two  years,  since  the  flood.  The 
Tower  was  built  for  worship,  and  not  to  escape  a  flood, 
nor  to  climb  up  to  heaven.  The  top  of  the  structure 
was  to  have  reached  heaven  in  the  sense  that  the  sacred 
mount  at  the  pole  reached  heaven.  "The  pyramidal 
temple,"  says  Lenormant,  "was  a  reproduction  of  the 
mystical  Mountain  of  the  Assembly  of  the  Stars,  the 
Har  Moed  of  Isaiah."  According  to  the  facts  already 
presented,  the  cosmological  ideas  of  the  nations  origina- 
ted in  antediluvian  times;  it  is  therefore  probable  that  the 
forms  and  methods  of  worship  corresponding  to  these 
ideas  were  also  an  inheritance;  and  the  Tower  of  Babel 
must  have  had  its  prototype  in  antediluvian  times. 
This  does  not  argue  that  the  Babel  builders  were  rioht- 
eous,  yet  all  that  is  charged  against  them  is  their  wish 
to  not  be  scattered,  and  their  ambition  to  have  a  name 
and  fame.  That  the  pure  worship  of  Noah  and  Enoch 
was  being,  or  had  been,  displaced,  may  rightly  be  sup- 
posed, but  external  forms  are  more  persistent.  Our  ideas 
of  the  people  of  this  time  are  affected  by  Hessiod's  "Re- 


BABEL  75 

volt  of  the  Titans,"  and  by  Jewish  legends.  The  char- 
acter of  Nimrod  in  the  legends  is  heroic,  and  the  found- 
ers of  all  the  early  nations  were  noble;  the  degeneracy 
was  gradual. 

Berosus  states  that  the  winds  assisted  the  gods  in  des- 
troying the  Tower  of  Babel,  and  that  the  gods  caused 
a  diversity  of  languages.  A  Jewish  tradition  has  it  that 
the  tower  was  split  by  lightning.  The  ruins  of  the 
Tower  of  Babel  have  not  come  down  to  our  time;  but 
on  the  site  made  sacred  by  traditions  of  it,  the  great 
pyramidal  temple  of  the  god  Bel  Merodach  was  built. 
It  was  the  same  that  was  called  the  Temple  of  Nebo, 
and  was  standing  at  the  time  of  the  captivity,  and  was 
one  of  the  seven  wonders  of  the  ancient  world.  Its  ru- 
in is  now  known  as  Birs  Nimroud,  or  citadel  of  Nimrod. 
Inscriptions  on  the  bricks  state  that  Nebuchadnezzar 
repaired  the  edifice  forty-two  ages  after  it  was  first 
built;  that  it  was  not  completed  at  first;  and  "since  a  re- 
mote time  the  people  had  abandoned  it,  without  order 
expressing  their  words;  since  that  time  the  earthquake 
and  the  thunder  had  dispersed  its  sun-dried  clay,  the 
bricks  of  the  casing  had  been  split  and  the  earth  of  the 
interior  had  been  scattered  in  heaps."  As  rebuilt  by 
Nebuchadnezzar  and  described  by  Herodotus,  the  base- 
ment stage  of  burnt  brick  was  272  feet  square,  and  26 
feet  high.  Upon  tliis  was  a  second  stage  also  57  feet 
high,  239  feet  each  way,  and  placed  to  face  with  one  side 
of  the  lower  stage.  The  third  story  was  of  the  same 
height,  and  188  square;  the  fourth  was  15  feet  high  and 
14(5  feet  square;  the  fifth  was  15  feet  high  and  104  feet 
square;  the  sixth  was  G2  feet  square  and  25  high,  and 
the  seventh  was  20  feet  square  and  15  high,  and  like 
all  the  others,  set  so  as  make  one  side  of  the  temple 
perpendicular.     On  the  last  stage  was    a   tabernacle    15 


76  THE  WORLD-STOKY 

feet  high,  making  the  whole  height  156  feet;  The  sto- 
ries were  painted  different  colors,  and  represented  the 
sun,  moon  and  five  planets.  On  top  was  a  shrine  in 
which  was  a  golden  table.  The  bed  was  occupied  by  a 
priestess  the  night  before  giving  forth  an  oracle  from 
Belus.  Birs  Nimroud  is  a  huge,  irregular  mound,  with 
masses  of  vitreous  matter  at  the  base.  The  interior  is 
composed  of  bricks  partially  vitrified  by  fire.  On  the 
top  is  an  irregular  tower  ninety  feet  in  circumference 
and  thirty  feet  high,  built  of  brick.  It  appears  that  both 
the  temples  were  cased  with  burnt  bricks. 

This  description  shows  that  the  so-called  Tower  of 
Babel,  was  a  pyramidal  temple,  broader  than  it  was 
high.  The  original  Tower  was,  presumably,  built  in 
this  particular  shape,  and  Assyrologists  agree  in  calling 
it  a  pyramidal  temple.  In  the  inscriptions  the  build- 
ing of  it  is  attributed  to  "the  king  very  ancient," 
and  later  it  is  called  the  "foundation  of  Anki,"  while 
the  temple  of  Belus  is  called  "the  seven  lights  of  An- 
ki"— Anki  meaning  the  celestial  earth,  a  term  also  ap- 
plied to  Meru,  which  was  thought  to  penetrate  the 
heavens.  As  this  temple  was  a  reconstruction  of  one 
that  had  been  abandoned,  we  have  reason  for  supposing  it 
was  like  the  former  one,  but  the  seven  stages  of  the  for- 
mer one  must  have  represented  the  stars  of  the  Great 
Dipper.  Speaking  of  the  Borsippi  Temple,  Boscawen 
says:  "The  god  of  heaven,  Anu,  is  here  called  the  king 
of  the  Holy  Mountain," 

According  to  the  ancient  symbolism  all  the  kingdoms 
were  "celestial  earths,"  after  the  pattern  of  the  heavenly 
abode.  Founding  a  kingdom  was  the  same  as  making  a 
new  world,  and  the  national  temple  was  the  center  of 
such  world.  This  mysterious  system  was  published  in 
book  form,  in  Sargon's  time,  which,  if  the  authorities  are 


BABEL  77 

reliable,  was  soon  after  the  flood.  Such  facts  are  strang- 
er than  the  concurrent  facts  of  the  sacred  narrative. 
The  Signs  of  the  Zodiac  had  the  same  names  then  that 
they  have  now.  That  this  symbolical  system  pre- 
vailed in  the  time  of  Nimrod,  is  shown  by  the  fact  that 
his  kingdom  formed  a  mystical  tetrarchy,  as-did  Ninevah, 
Kehoboth,  Resin  and  Calah  together,  at  a  later  time. 
Elam,  Akkad  and  Aram  was  each  a  Highland,  and 
each  a  Center  of  the  world.  The  Chinese  practiced  this 
system,  and  the  Romans,  also,  in  their  day.  Of  course 
the  people  of  Nimrod's  age  had  not  had  time  to  elaborate 
a  system  so  comprehensive  and  complete;  we  must  rele- 
gate it,  with  all  that  pertains  to  it,  to  the  years  beyond 
the  flood. 

The  most  ancient  pyramid  in  the  valley  of  the  Nile 
was  the  one  at  Sakkarah,  built  of  brick  in  stages,  like 
that  of  Babylon.  It  is  admitted  that  these  facts  estab- 
lish the  character  of  the  i^yramidal  temple;  and,  we  may 
add,  they  show  the  original  of  all  pyramids  and  all  teni- 
jiles,  of  all''  lands  and  all  ages,  to  be  antediluvian. 

With  this  system  of  the  rolling  stars  was  connected 
the  worship  of  El,  the  Strong  One. 

The  transmission  of  science  presupposes  the  art  of  wri- 
ting. The  special  characteristic  of  the  early  Noachida? 
v>as  vigor  of  thought,  and  some  of  them  were  gifted; 
there  must  have  been  such  as  they  before  them.  A  written 
language  in  antediluvian  times  is  the  logic  of  all  the  anal- 
ogies and  facts.  The  Egyptians  were  the  foremost  na- 
tion as  surveyors  and  calculators  of  astronomical  peri- 
ods. Their  earlier  labors  of  turning  the  Nile  and  mak- 
ing Lake  Moeris  have  not  been  excelled.  Their  hiero- 
glyphics Avere  superior  to  the  oldest  used  at  Akkad. 
The  writing  on  the  most  ancient  relics  in  Akkadia  ia 
hi«roglyphic  and  somi-cuneiform. 


78  THE  WORLD-STORY 

Authorities  ai'e  not  agreed  as  to  the  origin  of  phoenet- 
ic  writins:.  Melchizedek  was  a  Shemite  and  Phoenician; 
it  is  possible  that  phcenetic  writing  originated  with  his 
predecessors.  The  first  alphabet  was  used  in  common  by 
Hebrews,  Moabites  and  Phoenicians.  Out  of  this  com- 
mon tongue  the  Hebew  was  differentiated  after  the  re- 
settlement  in  Canaan,  and  the  oldest  Hebrew  Scriptures 
were  translations. 

Languawe  is  subordinate  to  the  laws  of  evolution,  and 
it  is  subject  to  constant  change.  It  can  be  grouped  into 
families  and  varieties  as  numerous  as  the  varieties  of 
men;  and  can  be  traced  to  its  beginnings,  or  followed 
through  its  stages  to  its  highest  complexity.  By  the 
growth  and  spread  of  populations  languages  have  been 
multiplied  by  a  regular  growth;  and  by  knowledge  of 
the  laws  of  this  growth,  this  formative  process  can  be 
unraveled  and  traced  to  the  main  branches  and  trunk; 
and,  in  regard  to  the  Noachian  languages,  this  wonderful 
achievement  has  been  pretty  nearly  accomplished.  The 
fact  that  language  is  subject  to  law  does  not  conflict 
with  the  fact  that  it  is  subject  to  divine  control;  it  is 
both  a  product  of  evolution  and  is  an  inspiration.  Every- 
thing that  has  passed  under  review  in  this  history  has 
exhibited  this  two-fold  quality  and  relationship  of  sub- 
jection to'law  and  connection  with  creative  and  miracu- 
lous power.  The  miracle  of  Pentacost  shows  that  speech 
is  subject  to  divine  control;  the  miracle  of  the  Confu- 
sion was  the  opposite  of  this,  and  may  have  been  of  a 
temporary  nature — we  know,  and  can  know,  absolutely 
nothing  about  it.  The  object  of  it  was  to  scatter  the  peo- 
ple; and  the  carrying  out  of  the  purpose  must  have  re- 
quired other  miracles,  but  the  last  one  recorded  that  af- 
fected the  whole  race  was  the  Confusion  of  Tongues  and 
the  scattering  of  the  tribes.     In  taking  leave   of  these 


BABEL.  79 

extra-scientific  occurrences  it  is  opportune  to  notice  that 
they  have  exhibited  well  defined  and  harmonious  char- 
acteristics; they  fit  into  portions  of  the  history  where 
they  are  indispensible  to  the  continuation  of  it;  they  are 
sublime  and  mysterious,  and  never  contradictory  or  ab- 
surd: in  all  of  which  they  differ  fi'om  this  denomination 
of  occurences  as  narrated  in  any  other  book  than  the  one 
in  which  they  are  set  forth. 


CHAPTEE  X. 

BENI    XOAH. 

The  iuscriptions  tell  of  Nimrocl,  but  it  is  as  tradition 
and  not  as  history.  We  can  not  get  back  to  the  fathers 
and  founders  of  nations,  but  we  can  get  back  to  a  sit- 
uation of  affairs  that  makes  it  certain  that  the  unreach- 
able beginning  is  supplied  by  the  tenth  chapter  of  Gen- 
esis. 

We  have  found  the  ancients,  everywhere,  adepts  in  as- 
tronomy and  addicted  to  astrology.  The  Chaldeans  are 
called  the  fathers  of  astronomy,  and  are  famed,  too,  as 
astrologers,  magicians,  &c.  Their  priesthood  devoted 
themselves  to  the  so-called  occult  sciences.  We  know 
that  within  the  period  upon  which  hisory  sheds  its  light 
they  were  charlatans,  professing  supernatural  gifts  and 
powers,  upon  a  basis  of  jugglery  and  the  common  apti- 
tudes of  psychology.  Astrology,  as  practiced  by  them, 
could  never  have  been  anything  but  a  cheat.  But  this, 
the  commonly  accepted  verdict,  does  not  cover  the  whole 
case.  There  are  facts  within  the  range  of  history  to 
prove  that  there  are  times  and  periods  and  conditions 
when  the  denizens  of  the  outer  realm  fraternize  with  the 
inhabitants  of  this.  The  more  ancient  times  must  be 
supposed  to  have  been  more  thus  favored  or  disfavored, 
in  order  to  reconcile  all  the  facts  and  fancies  that  have 
reached  us;  but  the  line  of  demarcation  between  which 
of  the  statements  are  true  and  which  false,  and  what  and 
which  of  the  occurrences  were  divine,  diabolical  or  psy* 
chological,  has  not  been  drawn. 


BENI  NOAH  81 

What  were  the  powers  of  the  iniud  in  the  early- 
ages  can  not  now  be  stated,  but  that  they  were  different, 
and  vastly  greater  in  some  respects,  is  evident.  Geology 
has  not  testified  anything  as  yet  concerning  giants,  but  the 
case  is  not  dismissed;  archajology  is  more  positive.  Four 
separate  giants  figure  in  the  Izdubar  Legends.  Antiqui- 
ty is  ablaze  with  such  characterization.  But  the  ques- 
tion is,  Was  there  a  corresponding  mental  exuberance? 
Geology  attests  to  an  extraordinary  vigor  of  action  and 
fullness  of  individual  development  of  all  animal  species 
in  the  earlier  stages  of  their  careers.  This  law  of  gene- 
ric, specific  and  racial  development  includes  man.  Men 
of  the  early  ages  were  ignorant;  tried  by  modern  standards 
they  were  grossly  incompetent,  But  their  ignorance 
Avas  their  strength.  The  blind  man's  remaining  senses 
are  acuted.  Savages  have  gifts  of  observation  that  are 
lost  to  civilization.  The  hurling  of  the  boomerang  re- 
mains a  barbarous  exploit.  The  sailor  has  weather  lore 
that  science  cannot  report.  The  city  youth  has  his  at- 
tention diverted  by  ten  thousand  glares,  while  the  back- 
log fire  lights  the  path  to  fame.  Plato  had  no  telescope 
with  which  to  search  the  stars,  and  the  earth  had  not  been 
opened  to  inspection,  so  he  turned  his  gaze  upon  hu- 
manity and  analyzed  the  powers  within  himself,  and  be- 
came a  teacher  for  all  time.  Having  few  trends  of  ac- 
tion and  of  thought  the  ancients  concentrated  individual 
and  national  energies  upon  special  pursuits  and  enterpris- 
es, and  therefore  theirs  was  the  age  of  exploits  and  prodi- 
gies. From  all  this  it  is  credible  that  beyond  the  his- 
toric era  was  a  realm  of  the  marvellous.  There  may 
have  been  something  like  magic,  a  science  of  the  secrets 
of  nature  and  the  exercise  of  what  are  now  preter-human 
powers,  by  means  of  occult  virtues.  Priesthoods  no  lon- 
ger rule  the  empires  of  the  earth;  no   incantatation  can 

F 


82  THE  WORLD-STORY 

turn  the  tide  of  battle,  Sybiline  books  have  fallen  to 
desuetude:  the  diviner's  cup  is  irresponsive  in  the  falter- 
ing hand  of  the  exiled  Parsee;  and  the  magical  wand,  the 
rod  once  potent  over  element  and  plague,  does  gentle 
service  now  in  puppet  shows.  Even  from  Israel  is  the 
Shekinah  departed,  and  he  is  answered  no  more  by  Urim 
and  Thummim.  Human  nature  is  not  in  all  ages  the 
same.  Gone  are  the  Anakim,  the  Rhephaim,  the  Emim 
and  the  Zamzumim. 

Fifteen  hundred  miles  northeast  of  Babylon,  on  the 
head  waters  of  the  Amoo  four  thousand  feet  above  the  sea, 
in  what  is  now  Turkestan  and  part  of  Afghanistan,  was 
the  ancient  home  of  our  more  direct  ancestors,  the  Indo- 
European  race,  part  of  the  Aryan  or  Japhetic  race. 
The  land  was  fruitful  and  a  fit  cradle  of  the  great  na- 
tions that  came  out  of  it.  Here  a  new  language  was 
developed  before  the  separation  into  tribes;  and  this  lan- 
guage, together  with  those  developed  from  it,  are  a 
history  of  civilization.  The  names  used,  and  those  omit- 
ted, alike  tell  a  story  of  the  time.  Part  of  the  Aryan 
stock  spread  eastward  and  drove  dark,  barbarous,  Indian 
tribes  before  them;  colonized  India,  and  wrote  the  Vedic 
Hymns.  These  hymns  are  pure  and  simple,  and  are  the 
offspring  of  the  imagination  at  the  time,  and  represent 
the  first  attempts  of  an  ignorant  but  noble,  agricultural 
people  in  looking  "through  nature  up  to  nature's  God." 
This  faith  declined  into  worship  of  the  aspects  of  the 
heavens,  yet  there  was  place  for  the  declaration,"  They 
call  him  Indra,  Mitra,  Varuna,  Aqui — that  which  is 
One."  The  Hindoos  have  always  had  a  tendency  to 
metaphysical  science,  to  grammar,  language,  ontology, 
psycholoy  and  logic,  and  they  have  not  been  lacking  in 
natural  gifts.  They  have  done  all  in  sounding  the  prob- 
lem of  life  that  the  human  mind  is  capable  of  without 


BENI  NOAH  83 

revelation,  but  one  lias  built  upon  the  speculations  of  an- 
other, and  the  result  is  a  system  of  mental  monstrosities. 
The  "Light  of  Asia,"  is  a  Jack  o'  Lantern, 

The  westward  mifirratinsc  tribes  of  Irania  reached 
Phrygia  and  then  southern  Europe;  others,  passing 
north  of  the  Caspian  Sea,  settled  in   Northern   Europe. 

The  faith  of  the  Aryans  of  Media  and  Persia,  declined 
until  the  time  of  Zoroaster,  who,  as  a  restorer,  instituted 
a  faith  of  wonderful  excellence.  In  it  Satan  is  given  un- 
due prominence  and  potency.  It  enforces  prayer,  praise 
and  good  deeds,  promises  a  resurrection  and  puts  sensu- 
ality under  ban.  It  will  not  accord  with  facts  to  deny 
that  some  religious  truth  originated  in  pagan  lands. 
The  gentile  mystics  were  gifted  souls,  and  their  great 
desires  and  efforts  to  discover  spiritual  truths  can  not  be 
made  to  count  for  nothing.  Zoroasterism  is  the  result 
of  an  attempt  to  portray  the  spirit  realm  without  the  aid 
of  the  spirit  of  revelation.  Zoroaster  got  so  near  the 
truth,  probably,  because  he  lived  within  reach  of  the 
remnants  of  true  tradition.  This  religion  gave  Cyrus 
his  inspiration  and  gained  him  the  recognition  of  Jehovah. 
The  three  magi  who  followed  the  Star  of  Bethlehem 
were,  probably,  of  this  faith. 

Confucius,  of  China,  was  a  reformer  and  philosopher 
— a  former  Ben  Franklin.  He  taught  that  in  a  more 
ancient  time  divine  messengers  had  brought  truth  to 
men,  and  said  of  himself  that  he  had  love  of  the  ancients 
and  made  every  effort  to  acquire  their  knowledge.  In 
China  the  emperor  was  called  the  Regent  of  the  Nine 
Earths,  and  the  palace  was  the  center.  The  Chinese  had 
inherited  the  scheme  of  five  divisions,  connecting  with  a 
central  mount  four  other  mountains  in  the  direction  of 
the  cardinal  points;  and  as  Meru,  of  the  Hindoos,  Avas 
surrounded  by  four  other  mountains,  so  these  constituted 


84  THE  WORLD-STORY 

the  five  summits  of  the  Chinese  legend;  and  the  four 
sacred  canals  of  the  Chinese  uranography  relate 
to  the  four  rivers  of  Paradise.  This,  with  their 
tradition  of  the  flood,  proves  the  Chinese  a  part  of  the 
Noachian  race — and  if  the  Chinese  then  all  the  Mongo- 
loid races,  and  probably  the  Aleutian  Islanders  and  their 
kindred  American  tribes,  including  the  Esquimaux. 
Baron  Von  Richthof  er's  researches  led  him  to  conclude 
that  the  ancestors  of  the  Chinese  once  lived  in  the  basin 
of  the  Tarim  river,  where  they  were  in  contact  with  the 
Aryans  and  Scythians  about  the  Pamir  Plateau.  M. 
Terrien  de  la  Couperie  has  recently  published  a  work 
proving  that  the  Chinese  language  is  intimately  con- 
nected with  the  Chaldean,  and  that  the  Chinese  letters 
and  the  ancient  cuneiform  are  derived  from  a  former  and 
superior  hieroglyphical  alphabet. 

"As  to  the  northern  nations  of  Asia,  while  distinctly 
Mongoloid  in  character,  they  are  all  linguistically  much 
further  advanced  than  the  Chinese,  and  must  have  sepa- 
rated from  the  common  stock  at  a  very  remote  period," 
The  Dravidians  then,  may  be  supposed  to  be  Cushites 
who  preceded  the  Aryans,  and  the  Finns  to  be  of  the 
same  stock.     The  Gypsies  are  Bazelgurs,  of  India. 

The  Semites  occuj^ied  a  parallelogram  sixteen  hun- 
dred miles  long,  from  the  latitude  of  Aleppo  to  the  south 
of  Arabia,  and  eight  hundred  miles  wide. 

Africa  may,  with  some  reservations,  be  set  down  as 
the  land  of  Nod,  and  certainly  as  the  land  of  the  Misriam, 
Caphtorim,  Pathrusim,  Ludin,  Phut,  Seba,  Naphtuhim 
and  Sebahim.  The  Hamitic  tribes  colonized  the  north 
coast,  and  the  east  coast  half  way  down  to  Good  Hope. 
The  Zulus  keep  a  feast  of  first  fruits,  reject  swine's  flesh, 
practice  circumcision,  have  traditions  of  the  Deluge 
and  of  the  passage   of  the   Red  Sea,   sprinkle  blood  on 


BENI  NOAH  85 

houses,  and,  says  Mr.  Taylor,  "were  cradled  m  the  land 
of  the  Bible."  All  Africans  may  yet  be  traced  to  Ham. 
The  Caff irs  were  driven  from  Northern  Africa  by  the 
Mohammedans. 

The  era  of  Menes,  the  first  Pharoah  is  placed  by  some 
authorities  at  2,350  B.  C,  but  by  the  latest  authorities 
at  about  4,000  B.  C.  The  method  of  determining  this 
era  is  by  the  old  lists  of  thirty-one  dynasties,  transcribed 
by  Menetho  from  the  archives  of  the  temple  of  Benny- 
tus,  275  B.  C.  There  are  four  other  ancient  lists;  one 
of  them  is  part  of  an  inscription  of  Ramses  II.  who 
built  Raamses  by  labor  of  the  Hebrews;  another  was 
made  by  Senofera,  predecessor  of  Cheops,  builder  of  the 
great  pyramid.  The  correctness  of  the  lists  is  not  ques- 
tioned; the  difficulty  is  in  determining  the  succession  of 
the  kings;  The  past  of  Egypt  is  now  historical. 
The  great  pyramid  was  a  thousand  years  old  when  Abra- 
ham first  caught  sight  of  it  across  the  deserts  of  Amenti. 
In  its  shadow  Salem's  king  seems  young.  Abraham's 
visit  occurred  near  the  close  of  the  twelfth  of  the  thirty 
one  dynasties  reaching  down  to  time  of  Alexander. 
Two  thousand  four  hundred  years  of  national  greatness 
had  preceded  his  journey  to  the  valley  of  the  Nile,  yet 
he  found  unoccupied  lands  for  the  pasturage  of  his  flocks, 
and  the  kings  he  met  were  so  petty  that  his  cow  boys 
whipped  a  confederation  of  them.  All  this  newness 
midway  between  great  empires  2,400  years  old!  So  the 
tablets  attest;  yet  it  would  be  incredible  if  the  pyramid 
were  out  of  the  way.  Numerous  authors  attribute  the 
building  of  the  great  pyramid  to  Melchizedek,  but 
the  longer  Egyptian  chronology  seems  as  firmly 
based  as  the  pyramid.  It  is  a  pyramid,  itself,  its  basis 
demonstrable  fact,  its  apex  rising  over  the  wastes  of 
time.     Yet  Egypt,  no  less  than  Assyria,  was  the  daugh- 


86  THE  WORLD-STORY 

ter  of  Babylon.  It  is  hard  to  accept,  at  second  hand,  that 
Sargon  reiged  in  Babylonia  B.  C.  3,800,  but  the  announce- 
ment of  a  still  more  ancient  king,  of  Tello,  was  made 
to  the  French  Academy  in  February  1884.  The  inscrip- 
tion bearing  the  facts  enumerates  the  temples  and  ca- 
nals constructed  by  this  remote  monarch.  It  is  in  the  lin- 
ear Babylonian  character,  by  which  its  comparative  age 
is  determined.  The  tablets  take  us  back  to  the  begin- 
ning of  kingdoms.  It  is  an  approachable  date — about 
4,000  B.  C.  A  few  hundred  years  added,  for  growth, 
is  all  that  the  most  contentious  can  require.  The  dust 
lifts  from  a  great  battle,  and  faith  has  the  field. 
In  connection  with  this  subject  is  that  of  longevity. 
A  thousand  years  before  Abraham's  sojourn  in  Egypt 
Phthahotep  wrote  a  book  that  antedates  all  other  books. 
It  contains  thirty  moral  precepts  persuading  to  filial  obe- 
dience and  affection — the  book-wrights  of  the  present 
are  derelict.  Phthahotep  calls  himself  "one  of  the  old 
men  of  the  land,  having  accomplished  one  hundred  and 
ten  years,  by  the  gi*ace  of  the  king  and  the  favor  of  the 
elders."  The  prevalent  chronology  has  considerations  to 
supi^ort  It,  but  the  age  of  induction  has  approached,  and 
the  free  school  system  will  keep  the  dial  moving.  A 
new  adaptation  of  the  text  of  Genesis  has  been  suggest- 
ed. Adam  one  hundred  and  thirty  years,  and  Seth  one 
hundred  and  five  years,  are  separate  and  complete  sen- 
tences, according  to  this  theory:  the  figures  relate  to 
the  whole  length  of  the  time,  and  not  to  the  times 
when  sons  were  born.  The  Hebrew  for  lives,  is  nev- 
er used  with  definite  numbers  to  indicate  the  age  of  a 
son.  Abraham  was  the  son  of  a  hundred  years  when 
his  son  Isaac  was  born  unto  him.  Liveth,  and  lived,  are 
used  to  indicate  the  termination  of  men's  lives,  and  are 
never  used  to  mark    a   period  midway   in  life.      In  the 


BENI  NOAH.  87 

phrase,  "begot  a  son  in  his  own  likeness,"  the  word  son, 
and  own,  are  not  in  the  original,  and  successor,  or  repre- 
sentative, might  be  supplied.  The  figures  represent  pa- 
triarchal houses,  dynasties,  or  governments.  The  sum  of 
the  two  tables  is  10,500  years.  How  much  truth  there 
may  be  in  the  theory  thus  briefly  sketched  is  not  a  re- 
ligious question.  Religion  does  not  depend  upon  math- 
ematical tables.  The  religious  instinct  resents  any  re- 
adjustment of  its  supports,  but  after  having  adopted  new 
conditions  it  sanctifies  them  as  it  did  the  old.  Further- 
more, having  triumphed  in  every  other  contest,  religion 
is  somewhat  excusable  in  insisting  upon  unconditional 
surrender  in  this  one. 

One  pharaoh  was  a  giant.  The  mummies  represent  a 
medium  size  or  less.  Ancient,  terra-cotta  coffins  at  Bab- 
ylon are  seven  feet  long. 

The  Hyksos  were  Arabian  and  Syrian  bands,  led  by 
Hittites.  They  obtained  dominion  in  Egypt  by 
leaguing  with  a  prince  of  Xois.  They  did  not  build  the 
great  pyramid.  It  was  one  of  these  rulers  that  received 
Abraham  on  terms  of  equality.  It  is  claig^ed  that  there 
was  religious  affinity  between  them  and  Melchizedek,  and 
the  same  faith  was  transmitted  by  succession  to  Jethro. 
Before  the  time  of  the  Exodus  one  of  the  Pharaohs  un- 
dertook to  restore  the  monotheistic  faith  and  worship, 
and  the  ceremonies  introduced  by  him  were  strikingly 
like  the  later  forms  of  Israelitish  worship.  After  his 
time  there  was  a  reaction  and  the  oppression  of  the  Is- 
raelites was  increased.  The  priesthood  of  Egypt  never 
gave  up  the  ancient  monotheistic  faith  as  taught  at  the 
time  when  no  idols  or  statues  were  had  in  the  temples; 
they  taught  it  to  a  select  few  to  the  last.  I  Am  That  I  Am, 
is  the  title  of  Deity  found  on  the  passports  of  mummy 
saints.     In  a  nitch  within  the  Holy  of  Holies  in  the  ruins 


88  THE  WORLD-STORY 

of  the  ancient  temple  of  Dendara,   Mariette   found  the 
mystical  Tau,  the  prophetic  sj^mbol  of  the  Crucifixion. 

The  Copernican  system  was  hnown  in  Egypt  eleven 
centuries  before  our  era. 

When  the  giant  tribes  came  into  Canaan  is  not  known: 
according  to  the  new  chronology  the  Canaanites  preced- 
ed Abraham  there  by  twenty-four  hundred  years,  still 
there  was  room  for  him  and  Lot  to  go  to  the  right  and 
left  with  their  herds,  and  we  are  left  to  conclude  that 
the  tribes  had  become  effete  with  age  and  sin. 

The  Polynesians  have  flood  legends.  The  Australi- 
ans, says  Mr.  Winchell,  "have  decided  relations  with  the 
Papuans  and  Hottentots;"  but  Mr.  Keith  Johnson  says, 
"the  only  people  to  whom  the  Hottentot  has  been 
thought  to  bear  a  resemblance,  are  the  Chinese  or  Ma- 
lays, or  their  original  stock,  the  Mongols.  Like  these 
people  they  have  the  broad  fore-head,  the  high  cheek- 
bones, the  oblique  eyes,  the  thin  beard  and  the  dull  yel- 
low tint  of  complexion,  resembling  the  color  of  a  dried 
tobacco  leaf."  Adding  to  this  the  assertion  of  Mr. 
Winchell  that  "the  Chinese  language  is  the  most  prim- 
itive of  all  Mongoloid  dialects,"  we  have  a  complete  ar- 
gument in  favor  of  the  Noachian  origin  of  all  the  Poly- 
nesian tribes.  Again:  "  All  Malays  approach  the  Mon- 
goloid type  so  distinctly  that  few  ethnologists  hesitate  to 
class  them  in  the  same  racial  group  with  the  Chinese," 
and  the  Polynesians  *  *  "are  Malays  at  foundation." 
Fornando  traces  the  Polynesian  race  to  the  Asiatic  Ar- 
chipelago and  thence  to  the  Aryan  plain,  and  says  they 
have  the  Cushite-Sabian  civilization  and  religion.  It 
is  asserted  that  Polynesia  has  received  its  population 
since  the  Christian  era,  and  "all  the  oceanic  Islands,  that 
is,  such  as  lie  at  considerable  distances  from  conti- 
nents, have,  with  few  exceptions,  been  found  uninhabit- 


BENI  NOAH.  89 

ed  by  European  navigators" — (Peschel).  The  Malay- 
Empire,  of  medieval  time,  with  its  capital  at  Java,  ex- 
tended all  over  the  Pacific  Sea.  The  Sandwich  Island- 
ers speak  a  Malay  dialect.  Easter  Island  was  under 
control  of  the  Malays;  there  are  traces  of  their  influence 
all  over  the  Pacific,  and  they  doubtless  visited  America. 

Says  Mr.  Winchell;  "The  general  opinion  among 
ethnologists  sustains  the  doctrine  of  a  wide-spread  Mon- 
goloid (pre-adamite)  population  over  the  continents  of 
Asia  and  Europe."  This  conflicts  with  the  evidence 
just  i^resented  that  the  Mongoloid  races  were  Noachian. 
The  presence  of  Turanian  or  Mongoloid  ti'ibes  in 
Europe  previous  to  the  advent  of  the  Celts,  does  not 
prove  that  they  were  pre-uoachian  nor  pre-adamites,  for, 
according  to  the  chronology  of  the  tablets,  two  thousand 
years  had  elapsed  since  the  time  that  God  had  scattered 
the  Cushite  builders  of  Babel  "from  thence  upon  the 
face  of  the  whole  earth,"  So,  too,  the  presence  of  Mon- 
goloid tribes  in  Asia  before  the  conquests  of  the  Aryans 
can  be  accounted  for,  because  that  was  nearly  two  thous- 
and years  after  the  divine  scattering.  Mr.  Lenormant 
says:  "All  appearances  would  lead  us  to  regai-d  the  Tura- 
nian race  as  the  first  branch  of  the  family  of  Japhet 
which  went  forth  into  the  world;  and  by  that  prema- 
ture separation,  by  an  isolated  and  antagonistic  exist- 
ence, took,  or  rather  preserved,  a  completely  distinct 
physiognomy."  The  Xoachian  colonists  found  no  abo- 
riginees  to  fight,  the  first  heroes  were  mighty  hunters 
like  Nimrod,  and  slayers  of  boars  and  lions,  like  Hercu- 
les. 

The  principal  argument  in  proving  that  there  were 
pre-adamite  races,  is  based  upon  the  general,  progressive 
tendency  of  nature,  as:  "We  have  no  evidence  of  any  ra- 
cial tendencies  toward   general  organic   degeneration," 


90  THE  WORLD-STORY 

therefore  we  must  suppose  that  the  difference  between 
the  white  man  and  the  negro  is  the  result  of  the  progres- 
sion of  the  former.  But  the  premise  is  not  true,  and  the 
argument  is  based  upon  assumptions,  One  assumption 
is  that  there  is  no  racial  degeneracy,  and  another  is 
that  Adam  was  a  white  man.  If,  with  Prichard,  it 
be  assumed  that  Adam  was  a  black  man,  the  supposition 
of  there  having  been  pre-adamites  is  not  a  logical  neces- 
sity. The  author  of  "Preadamites"  says;  "I  think  we 
may  presume  on  Biblical  as  well  as  anthropological 
grounds,  that  Adam  was  strongly  colored;"  and  the  "ru- 
diness  of  Adam  was  transmitted  to  sun-burnt  Kham, 
while  others  of  his  posterity  had  acquired  a  complexion 
characteristically  white."  These  suppositions  are  reason- 
able, and  upon  this  basis  pre-adamites  are  not  a  necessity. 
It  is  Mr.  Winchell's  supposition  that  Ham  was  dark  and 
his  brothers  white,  but  he  gives  no  reason  for  such  diversi- 
ty; this  might  be  done  by  supposing  Hams's  mother  to 
have  been  a  Cainite.  Again,  to  suppose  that  Cain's  wife 
was  dark  is  not  absurd.  Any  resonable  supposition  is 
preferable  to  disputing  a  record  that  has  withstood  assault 
so  lono'.  It  is  not  scientific  to  contrapose  the  historic 
items  of  a  record  that  is  interspersed  with  prophetic 
items,  without  finding  some  way  to  match  them  off  too. 
With  such  a  start  in  race  characteristics  as  Mr.  Winchell 
has  supplied  us  and  with  the  lengthened  chronology  the 
tablets  have  supplied  us,  the  preadamite  hypothesis 
is  a  superfluity.  The  blond  races  may  be  set  down  as 
the  product  of  passing  years  and  a  northern  clime. 

"Various  facts  which  I  have  elsewhere  given,"  says 
Darwin,  "prove  that  the  color  of  the  skin  and  hair  is 
sometimes  correlated  in  a  surprising  way  with  a  complete 
immunnity  from  the  action  of  certain  vegetable  poisons 
and  from  the  attack  of  parasites.    Hence  it  occurred  to  me 


/ 

BENI  NOAH.  91 

that  Negroes  and  other  dark  races  might  have  acquired 
their  dark  tints  by  the  darker  individuals  escaping,  du- 
ring a  long  series  of  generations  from  the  deadly  influ- 
ence of  the  miasma  of  their  native  countries." 

The  first  adveturous  hunters  of  Central  Europe    find- 
ing themselves  exposed  to  storms  and  wild  beasts,    and 
having  no  tools  and  being  ignorant  of  architecture,  nat- 
urally sought  shelter  in  caves.    The  caves  of  Moustier  and 
Cromognon  of  France,  and  Kent's  hole  in  England,  and 
similar  places,  certainly  contain  relics  of  the  first  human 
beings  that  ever  inhabited    that   latitude    and   locality. 
The  time  of  this  first  occupancy  is  variously  estimated  at 
from  seven  to  sevnty-five  thousand  years  ago.     The  lon- 
ger chronology  is  based  upon  the  theory  of  the    former 
greater  eccentricity  of   the  earth's  orbit;    and  according 
to  it  mankind  had  been  living  a  good  while    in    Europe 
before  the  Champlain  Era,  which  succeeded  the  Glacial 
cold,  and  was  a  moist  period  seventy-three  thousand  and 
five  hundred  years  ago.     Following  the  Champlain  half 
the  time  of  the  revolution  of  the  apsides,  was  the  rien- 
deer  period,  sixty  three  thousand  five  hundred  years  ago. 
The  Champlain  Era  w^as  the  time  when  and  before  which 
the  rude  chipped  flints  were  deposited  in  such  vast  quan- 
tities in  the  Somme  and  some  other  vallies.    These  flints 
not  being  found  in  Denmark  is  taken  as  proof  that  that 
land  was  too  cold  to  be  inhabited  at  that  time.     The  truth 
seems  to  be  that  most  of  the  so-called   flint  implements 
were  made  by  the  force  of  glaciers  and  ai;^  confined  to  a  lim- 
ited zone  and  geological   horizon,  both4n  Europe  and 
America.  The  fact  that  no  polished  implements  are  found 
in  the  same  places  is  because  there  was  no  human  agency 
present,  and    the    absence    of  human  bones   proves  the 
same  thing.     The  questionable  shape    of   the    flints   as 
pictured  in  Lyell's  Antiquity  of  Man,  is  proof  that  men 


92  THE  WORLD-STORY 

did  not  make  tliem  and  did  not   ever  have    any  use   for 
them,  and  the  flints  and  the  paleolithic   department   of 
geology   both   need   working   over.      Notwithstanding 
these  dificulties,  the  first  dwellers  in  caves  were  very  an- 
cient and  used  paleolithic  implements  and  were  contem- 
porary with  the  reindeer,  the    musk  ox,  the  hairy  mam- 
moth and  the  wooly  rhinoceros.     These  animals    attest 
that  the  climate  was  rigorous.     The  rivers  have  lowered 
their  beds,  by  slow  erosion,  two  hundred  feet  below  the 
caves  and  banks  where  relics  were  first  covered  by  them. 
The   cave  men   had  boiling   stones,  which    shows    that 
they  boiled  their   meat  in  baskets    as    the   Indians  do. 
Their  tools  and  implements   were   much    more   perfect 
than  the  flints    of  the    drift.     Their   flint  scrapers    and 
bone    awls    show   that   they    used    skins   for    clothing. 
They  sketched  reindeer  and   hairy  elephants    on  ivory, 
bone  and  horn.     They  had  flat  shins,  their  incisors  came 
together  like  a  trap,    their  chief   food  was  the  reindeer, 
and  the  Lapps  and  Finns  are  their   probable  successors. 
The  Danish  peat  bogs,  it  is  said,  show  the    march  from 
savagery  to    semi-civilization.     In  the    lower  strata  are 
rude,  stone  implements  together  with    an    extinct  pine, 
and  extinct  birds  that  lived  upon  the  leaves  of  the  pine. 
Above  these  were  the  extinct   oaks  and    the  bronze  im- 
plements, and  above  these  the  beach  and  iron  of  historic 
times.     The  skulls  of  the   shell  heaps    of  Denmark   are 
like  the  Lapp's,  small  and  round,  with  prominent  ridges 
over  the  eyes.     Shell  heaps  everywhere  are  ancient  and 
barbarous  like  the  bogs  and  caves.     The  relics  of  the  del- 
tas are  of  indefinite  age.  Schliemann  found  barbarous  rel- 
ics  below  the  site  of  Troy.     Layers  of  human  monuments 
succeed  each  other  as  the  rocks  below   them  with  their 
inclosed  fossils  succeed  each  the  former,  showing  a  like 
order  of  displacement  and  improvement;  yet  the  contra- 


BENI  NOAH.  93 

ry  order  of  succession  is  also  seen  in  places,  and  barbar- 
ous relics  strew  the  surface  where  noble  monuments  lie 
hid  beneath.  Some  men  dwelt  in  caves  in  the  time  of 
Job,  and  others  since. 

'  The  latest  reckoning  of  the  Stone  Age  has  been  made 
by  the  later  Miller,    Mr.  Wiuchell.     He  asserts  that  the 
latest  pile  habitations  come  down  to  the  sixth   century, 
and  contain  Roman  coins.  -  The  earliest  mention  of  the 
savage  tribes  is  fourteen  hundred  years   before  Homer, 
when  the  Pelasgians  came  into  Europe.     There    is  "no 
valid  ground  whatever   for  the   opinion  that   the  Stone 
Age  in  Europe  began  more   than  2,500    or  3,000    years 
before  Christ."     The   Irish  Elk   survived  till   the  four- 
teenth century.     Two  great   glaciers  in    the  Alps   have 
receded,  in  fifty  years,  not  less  than  half  a  mile,  and  the 
volume  of  ice  lowered  at  least   two  thousand   feet.     "I 
traced  the  foot  steps  of  the  receding   glaciers     *     *     I 
had  come  upon  earth  in  time  to  see  the  continental  gla- 
ciers of  Europe  on   their   retreat  up  the   gorges  of   the 
Alps.     I  felt  the  Stone  Folk  drawn  down  in  time  toward 
our  own  times.     Antiquity  is  at  our  doors."     Steenstrop 
estimates  the  relics  of  the   bogs  at  least  four  thousand 
years  old;  De  Ferry   those  of   the  river  Soane  5,84-t  to 
7,305  years.       "Whether  then  we    consider  the   magni- 
tude of  the  geological  changes  since    the  advent   of  Eu- 
ropean man,  or  his   co'ntemporaneousness  with    animals 
now  extinct,  or  his  succession  upon  the  continental  gla- 
ciers, we  do  not  discover  valid  reasons  for  assuming  him 
removed  by    a  distance  exceeding  six  to  ten  thousand 
years.     *    *    I  do  not  intend  this  estimate  to  cover  the 
age  of  the   'man  of  Calaveras'  who  seems  to  have  lived 
in  Pliocene  time." 


CHAPTER  II. 

REVELATION    AMID    EVOLUTION. 

^' Oannes^Enoch)  had  instructed  the  ancients  in  arts  and 
sciences  so  that  nothing  grand  was  discovered  afterioard." 

Berosus. 

"In  Sanchoniathon  the  geneology  does  not  end  with  Amynos 
and  Magos  as  that  of  the  Cainites  in  the  Bible  does  with  the 
three  sons  of  Lamech.  These  two  personages  are  succeeded  by 
Mysor  and  Sydyk,  the  released  and  the  just,  as  Sanchoniathon 
translates  them,  but  rather  the  upright  and  the  just,  who 
invent  the  use  of  salt.  To  Misor  is  born  Taautos,  to  whom 
we  owe  letters;  and  to  Sydik  the  Cabari  or  Corybantes,  the  in- 
stitutors  of  navigation." 

Origan  asserts,  on  the  authority  of  the  Book  of  Enoch, 
that  the  constellations  were  already  divided  and  named 
in  the  time  of  that  patriarch.  This  amounts  to  nothing 
of  itself,  but  the  massing  of  the  evidence  makes  it  seem 
probable  that  there  was  such  a  person  as  Enoch,  and 
makes  plausable  the  ancient  belief  that  there  was  trans- 
mitted through  Noah  a  divine  system  of  faith  and  doc- 
trine. Facts  and  abounding  analogies  attest  that  this 
faith  became  perverted  and  subverted,  and  in  its  stead 
were  formulated  fystems  based  upon  philosphical  spec- 
ulations  and   popular   fancies,    longings   and   dreams. 

In  the  northern  lands  where  changes  are  great,  where 
ice  locks  the  waters,  and  snow  shrouds  the  earth,  and 
the  storms  are  fierce,  the  people  thought  they  were 
subject  to  the  changeful  moods  of  gods  and  demons,  in 
earth,  sea   and  sky;  and  they  elaborated    a   mythology, 


REVELATION  AMID  EVOLUTION  95 

giving  life  and  thought  to  every  phase  of  nature,  and 
filled  it  with  the  wierd  concepts  of  the  imagination.  The 
inhabitants  of  the  milder  temperate  zone  also  put  a  spirit 
into  every  breeze  and  stream  and  star  and  every  force 
of  nature,  and  made  them  worshipful.  The  varying  as- 
pects of  nature  affect  all  minds  with  more  or  less  force, 
Avhile  certain  impressible  natures  are  wrought  up  to  a 
kind  of  frenzy  or  intoxication  of  the  imagination,  in 
which  objects  seem  transfigured.  They  enter  into  an 
ideal  realm;  see  the  souls  of  things,  and  feel  thrills  and 
charms  that  have  no  relation  to  common  life.  This  ex- 
perience pertains  alike  to  the  senses  and  to  the  affec- 
tions. It  constitutes  its  possesors  a  brotherhood  in 
which  thei'e  is  no  nationality,  provincialism  nor  sectari- 
anism; no  age  or  clime;  so  that  a  Greek  or  other  ancient 
of  the  earliest  ages  having  written  a  line  or  called  a 
name,  it  comes  trilling  down  the  ages,  transmitted  on 
from  soul  to  soul  forever. 

To  the  worship  of  the  powers  of  nature  was  added 
that  of  ancestors  and  heroes,  and  with  piety  was  blended 
the  fervor  of  patriotism  and  the  delights  of  poetic  fan- 
cies, and  because  there  was  in  it  so  much  of  the  mysteri- 
ous, the  good,  thebeautiful— all  that  is  heroic,  brave  and 
strong,  paganism  died  hard. 

In  applying  the  principles  of  evolution  to  politics, 
philosophy,  arts  and  religion,  the  philosophers  tell  us 
that  every  thing  was  evolved  from  within  and  and  not 
originated  from  without;  for  instance:  The  setting  up  of 
the  Egyptian  Avorship  while  Moses  was  in  the  Mount 
was  simply  going  back  to  a  faith  from  which  the  peo- 
ple had  hot  been  weaned;  and  Aaron's  part  in  it  shows 
that  he  was  an  Egyptian  priest.  The  suppress  ion  of 
the  name  of  deity,  the  breast  plat<?,  the  tank  of  water,  the 
holy  of  holies,    the  ark  and  the  manner  of  carrying  it. 


96  THE  WORLD-STORY 

the  cherubim,  anointing  of  kings  and  priests,  lineal 
descent  of  priesthood,  the  white  linen  of  the  priests,  the 
festival  of  the  new  moon,  burnt  offerings,  the  scape- 
goat, red  heifer's  ashes,  purification,  and  abhorrence  of 
swine,  were  Egyptian  ideas. 

It  is  true  that  the  natural  unfolding  of  ethnological  laws 
prepared  the  way  for  the  different  dispensations,  each 
in  its  time;  and  each  dispensation  was  preparatory  of 
the  one  that  succeeded  it;  but,  nevertheless,  it  must  be 
admitted  that  each  dispensation  was,  in  the  main,  inde- 
pendent of  every  other  and  of  all  human  agency,  and 
began  in  revelation  and  miracle.  As  in  the  physical 
realm  we  saw  that  the  true  formula  is,  Creation  Amid 
Evolution,  so  in  the  moral  domain  the  true  statement  of 
action  is:  Revelation  Amid  Evolution.  This  is  not 
in  conflict  with  the  Biblical  assumption  that  all  events 
and  conditions  are  determined  by  divine  direction,  and 
the  more  important  emergencies  provided  for  by  direct 
miraculous  interference.  Evolution  is  divine  and  God 
is,  and  has  always  been,  both  in  it  and  superor  to  it. 

The  Egyptian  religion  was  one  of  the  systems  into 
which  the  patriarchal  dispensation  had  declined.  This 
theory  does  not  remove  all  difliculties,  for  that  is  not  pos- 
sible, but  it  is  true,  and  it  is  an  element  of  the  universal 
philosophy  that  is  to  be.  It  affords  a  key  to  the  mystery 
of  the  great  pyramid,  with  its  system  of  unversal  science 
wi'ouo'ht  into  stone,  and  of  the  fact  that  God  is  named  in 
the  old  Hermetic  Books  as  He  that  was  before'all  things 
that  actually  exist,  and  before  all  beginnings,  "one  God 
and  king,  remaining  unmoved  in  the  singleness  of  his 
own  unity."  It  explains  why  those  who  had  been  initi- 
ated into  the  mysteries  of  Isis  had  scrolls  buried  with 
them  at  death,  bearing  among  other  words:  Nik  Pukulc — 
I  AM  THAT  I  AM.      Moses  knew  all  this,  and  all 


REVELATION  AMID  EVOLUTION  97 

that  tbo  Hebrews,  and  all  that  Jethro  knew,  who,  being  a 
priest  and  a  true  worshiper,  had  probably  inherited  the 
knowledge  of  the  Melchizedek  line.  lie  had  forty  years 
of  solitary  life  in  which  to  meditate  on  these  high 
themes,  and  the  things  to  be  done  in  restoring  freedom 
and  the  true  faith  to  Israel ;  and  as  he  was  providentially 
prepared,  so  his  people  had  undergone  a  providential  disci- 
pline. There  is  no  defense  of  the  orthodox  faith  but  evo- 
lution. As  Judaism  extends  back  into  the  Egyytian  sys- 
tem, so  the  Epyptian  has  its  roots  in  the  antediluvian. 
It  is  not  transcending  the  bounds  of  probability  to  as- 
sert that  baptism  was  an  antediluvian  rite.  James  Her- 
ring, Grand  Secretary  of  the  Grand  Lodge  of  S.  N.  Y. 
under  date  of  New  York,  Nov.  1845,  wrote  M.  M.  Noah 
for  information  concerning  the  origin  of  baptism  among 
the  Hebrews,  and  took  occasion  to  say: 

"]My  attention  having  been  directed  to  the  ancient  myateries, 
I  have  become  satisfied  that  a  species  of  baptism  was  practiced 
there  before  the  foundation  of  the  Hebrew  Commonwealth,  in 
India,  Egj^pt,  Greece  and  Britain;  and  as  those  mysteries  in  the 
remote  antiquity  of  their  institution,  were  intended  to  preserve 
the  pure  woreliip  of  the  deity,  and  the  transmission  of  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  early  ages  of  the  human  family,  the  ritual  must 
have  had  one  common  origin;  but  I  was  not  aware  that  baptism 
had  been  incorporated  into  the  Jewish  rites." 

M.  M.  Noah  replied  that  circumcision  and  baptism 
were  inseparable  from  the  earliest  periods,  and  baptism 
did  not  receive  its  original  form  from  John.  He  quoted 
Moimonides  that  Israel  was  admitted  into  the  Covenant 
by  circumcision,  baptism  and  sacrifice;  and  said  the  rite 
dates  back  to  Jacob.  It  was  administered  to  prose- 
lytes by  those  ordained;  and  infants  w'ere  submerged. 
It  was  gradually  abandoned. 

There  is  a  general  evolution,  and,  within  it,  a  special 
evolution,  applying  more  particularly  to  man's  spiritual 

G 


I 


98  THE  WORLD-STORY 

nature,  by  which  evil  develops  and  intensifies  and  cul- 
minates in  calamity;  and  on  the  other  hand  a  growth 
of  goodness,  truth,  and  high  spiritual  experience,  result- 
ing in  visitations  of  supernatural  beatitude.     Harmon- 
izing with   and  including  these    special  tendencies,    is 
the  grand  harmonious  march  of  all  the  coml^ined  forces 
of    imiversal    nature,    sweeping    down    through     the 
cycles  of  time.     Whether  the  definitions  applied  to  ma- 
terial or  universal  evolution  will  apply  to  spiritual  de- 
velopments and  growths,  is  not  determinable,  but  there 
is  in  the  spiritual  realms  a  governing  law  of  causation, 
and  there  is  a  linking  together  of  events  and  conditions, 
forms  and  phases,  in  lines  of  succession,  of  antecedents 
and  consequents,  types  and   antitypes,   prophecies  and 
fulfillments  in  strange,  amazing  order  and  extent.     This 
development  has  resulted  in  systems  of  faith,  forms  of 
worship,  organizations,  orders  of  men,  and  nationalities. 
As  languages  can  be  traced  back  to  their  parent  trunk, 
so  can  these  religious  elements  be  traced  back  to  their 
source.     Doctrine  can  be  traced  back  to  the  promise  to 
the  woman;  forms  of  worship  to  Abel's  altar.     Christians 
can  be  traced  back  to  Jews,  and  Jews  to  Abraham,  and 
he  and  his  characteristics  to  Noah,  of  the  same  faith 
and  same  form  of  worship  and  exercising  certain  rights 
and  professing  intimate  relations  with  Diety.     Streams 
do  not  rise  without  a  source;    another  ascending  step 
takes  us  to  Enoch,  a  man  of  like  .faith;  and  he  must 
have  had  a  prototype.     The  clew  that  is  followed  in  this 
investigation  is  ideas,  but  the  process  is   as  scientific  as 
tracing  kindred  fossil  forms  in  the  rocks.     As  far  back 
as  we  can  trace  religion  we  can  trace  the  true  religion; 
the  religion  that  began  with  the  race  was  the  true  one. 
Religion  is  independent  of  art  and  of  culture.     The  mot- 
to of  this  chapter  then  is  true.      Enoch  was  a  true  char- 


REVELATION  AMID  EVOLUTION  99 

acter  and  a  teacher  whose  fame  has  survived  the  agoe, 
and  whose  acts  were  part  of  the  truths  transmitted,  in 
some  method  anwering  to  the  Tables  of  Larsam,  and 
preserved  on  tablets  and  by  tradition  till  Berosus  fixed 
it  in  Greek  thought.  "What  did  Enoch  teach?  Some  one 
trying  to  pry  into  the  mysteries  of  the  past  wrote  the 
Book  of  Enoch,  the  same  that  is  quoted  by  Jude.  The 
book  is  ancient,  was  in  existence  a  hundred  years  before 
our  era,  and  shows  the  general  expectation  of  that  age 
that  a  Redeemer  would  come.  This  book  says  Enoch 
taught  a  judgement  by  fire.  The  book  also  says  that 
Azazyal  taught  the  antediluvians  to  make  knives,  shields, 
breastj)lates,  mirrors,  bracelets,  the  beautifying  of  the 
eye-brows,  the  use  of  stones  of  every  valuable  and  select 
kind,  and  all  sorts  of  dyes.  Josephus  attributes  this 
prophecy  of  destruction  by  fire  to  Adam.  Abraham  and 
Noah  were  prophets,  as  proven  by  science,  scripture  and 
history.  Enoch  has  a  better  claim  to  that  character, 
living  in  an  older  time;  for  all  our  transcendental  phil- 
osophers assent  to  the  words  of  Plato  that  the  earliest 
men  were  "well  affectioned  toward  the  gods,  who  were 
their  kinsmen;  for  they  possessed  true  and  in  every  way 
great  spirits." 

The  teaching  by  Enoch  of  a  systematic  faith,  is  the 
only  explanation  of  many  facts  concerning  Christ, 
found  in  the  literature  of  all  nations  at  a  time  so  far 
back  as  to  make  it  a  certainty  that  they  Avere  a  heritage 
from  a  common  ancestry.  Just  how  much  of  this  abound- 
ing knowledge  of  Christ  in  the  early  ages  was  tradition- 
al, hoAV  much  of  it  current  inspiration  in  the  countries 
where  it  obtained,  and  how  much  of  it,  in  the  later  sta- 
ges, was  borrowed  from  Hebrew  bards  and  seers,  can 
not  be  determined.  The  Jewish  Sybilinc  Books — the 
Psalter    of    Solomon,    the    Ascension    of   Isaiah,    the 


100  THE  WORLD-STORY 

Fourth  Book  of  Esdras,  the   Targums  of   Onkelos  and 

Jonathan,    and  other   writings  of   later  Judaism,  were 

written  with  the  view  to   inspiring  the  Jews  with  hope 

of  deliverance  and  national  exaltation  by  the   promised 

Messiah. 

"Osiris  of  Egypt  bruised  the  head  of  the  serpent  after 
it  had  bitten  his  heel."  (Bryant)  On  the  spheres  of 
Hercules  that  hero  is  represented  as  in  the  act  of  con- 
tending with  the  serpent,  the  head  of  which  is  placed 
under  his  foot;  and  this  serpent  guards  the  tree  with 
golden  fruit,  in  the  midst  of  the  garden  of  Hesperides,* 
*  and  we  may  observe  the  same  tradition  in  the  Phoeni- 
cian fable  of  Ophion," — Faber. 

Chrishna  is  called  the  liberator  from  the  serpent,  Death. 
His  image  is  sculptured  in  the  ancient  temples  of  India, 
sometimes  wreathed  in  the  folds  of  a  serpent  which  is 
biting  his  foot,  and  sometimes  treading  victoriously  on 
its  head.  He  is  sculptured  at  Elephanta  with  holes  in 
his  hands  and  feet. 

The  ancient  Persians  had  a  tradition  of  a  virgin,  from 
whom  they  predicted  would  spring  up  a  shoot  that 
would  crush  the  serpent's  head  and  thus  deliver  the 
world  from  sin."(Volney).  Their  version  of  the  temp- 
tation and  fall  is  almost  identical  with  the  Hebew's;  the 
Hindoo  account  is  similar  to  it. 

In  the  ancient  Etrurian  myth  the  woman  herself  was 
represented  as  standing  with  one  foot  on  the  serpent's 
head. 

Achilles  was  vulnerable  only  in  the  heel. 

"The  belief  in  the  immaculate  conception  extended 
to  everv  nation  in  the  world." — Higgins. 

Tne  Virgin  and  Child  are  pictured  on  the  Hindoo 
Zodiac,  and  also  on  the  ancient  Egyptian  hemispheres. 

Alphonso  says,  "The  adventures  of  Jesus  Christ  are 


i_i  t-*«»-  K 


^StTV  » 


UNlVERSt 

Of 

REVELATION  AMID  EVOLUTION  101 

all  depicted  among  the  stars."  Albert  says:  "The  sign 
of  the  celestial  virgin  rises  above  the  horizon  at  the  mo- 
ment we  find  fixed  for  the  birth  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ."  W.  Drummond  says:  "The  anointed  El, 
the  male  infant,  M'ho  rises  in  the  arms  of  Virgo,  was 
called  Jesus,  by  the  Jews;  *  *  and  was  hailed  as  the 
anointed  king  or  Messiah." 

As  the  constellations  of  the  Zodiac  were  named  before 
the  flood  and  M'ere  prophetic,  it  must  have  been  done  by 
inspiration;  and  the  more  this  assumption  shall  be  rub- 
bed, the  brighter  it  will  get. 

The  idea  of  the  atonement  by  the  substitution  of  one 
victim  for  another,  also  that  of  a  general  atonement  by 
the  offering  of  a  superior,  or  divine  being,  for  a  nation 
or  for  the  world,  is  said  to  be  remarkable  for  its  antiquity. 

The  believers  in  Mithras,  the  Persian  mediator, 
says  Justin  Martyr,  "wore  the  sign  of  the  cross  on  their 
foreheads."  "The  Egyptians  wore  the  cross  just  as  the 
Christians  afterward  did  the  cross  of  Jesus.  It  was 
the  most  sacred  symbol  of  their  worship,  and  consider- 
ed as  possessing  in  itself  poAver  against  the  evil  one." 
It  was  Justin,  or  some  other  early  controversialist,  who 
told  the  pagans  that  they  not  only  "placed  a  cross,  but 
a  cross  with  a  man  on  it."  Plato  taught  that  the  divinity 
"next  to  the  Supreme  Being,  Avas  universally  prefigured 
by  the  sign  of  the  cross."  Besides  Plato,  there  must  have 
-  been  others  of  the  Greeks  who  had  this  precious  know 
ledge,  and  in  expression  of  true  spiritual  desire  they  erec- 
ted an  altar  to  the  Unknown  God,  and  Paul  saw  it  and  his 
heart  was  stirred  within  him,  and  standing  on  Mars' 
Hill  he  said,  Whom  ye  ignorantly  worship,  him  declare 
I  imto  you. 

These  historic  facts  show  the  credentials  with  which 
Christ  came  into  the  world;  and  the  world's  rejection  of 


102  THE  WORLD-STORY 

him  was  horrid  stupidity  then;  and  it  is  idiocy  now. 

Eusebius  says  that  the  very  name  of  Christ  was  hon- 
ored by  the  pious  prophets  of  old;  and  that  Moses  gives 
"the  names  our  Savior  Jesus  Christ." 

By  such  a  back-ground  of  prophetic  knowledge  in  all 
the  ancient  world  the  conclusions  of  previous  chapters 
are  justified.  It  also  helps  to  explain  the  moral  excel- 
lence of  the  teachings  of  Zoroaster,  Socrates  and  others. 
God  was  haply  not  very  far  from  any  one  of  them.  In  or- 
der to  have  the  testimony  of  Jesus  it  was  not  a  pre-requi- 
site  that  one  should  have  kept  a  harem,  or  waxed  valiant 
in  fight,  nor  to  have  familiarized  the  mind  to  the  old 
barbarisms  and  unnamed  crudities  of  the  early  ages. 
A  man  might  be  a  philosopher  or  poet  and  have  also  the 
light  that  lighteth  every  man.  The  ethics  of  Christian- 
ity is  best  seen  in  the  character  of  the  few  who  first  re- 
cognized Christ  Avhen  he  came. 

History  has  a  scientific  frame-work;  religion  has  a 
scientific  basis;  the  world  should  have  but  one  creed; 
and  so  it  will  be. 

We  are  now  prepared  for  Ovid's  divine  song: 

•'Hail,  great  physician  of  the  world,  all  hail! 
Hail,  mighty  infant,  who,  in  years  to  come 
Shall  heal  the  nations,  and  defraud  the  tomb! 

*■«•***** 

Then  shalt  thou  die;  and  from  the  dark  abode 
Shalt  rise  victorious,  and  be  twice  a  God!" 

It  was  the  primitive  tradition  that  the  seed  of  the 
woman  should  bruise  the  serpent's  head  that  made  the 
people  in  their  expectancy  invent  heroes  to  fulfill  the 
prediction,  and  invest  their  beloved  and  eminent  dead 
with  the  characteristics  of  the  expected  deliverer.  When 
this  faith  in  one  to  come  was  at  its  fullest  development 
in  India,  it  foimd  expression  in  prophetic  sculptures  of 


REVELATION  A^NIID  EVOLUTION  103 

Chrishiia  as  in  the  rock-liewu  caves  of  Elephanta  and 
EUora.  The  Chrishiia  of  prophecy  was  Christ;  the 
Chrishna  of  narrative  was  a  fiction,  and  most  of  the  story 
of  his  life  was  written  later  than  the  preaching  of  St. 
Thomas. 

The  sign  of  the  cross  appears  suspended  from  the 
jiecks  of  oriental  prisoners,  pictured  on  the  monuments 
of  Egypt  1,500  years  before  Christ. 

In  the  oldest  sacred  writings  of  the  Hindoos,  dating 
back  to  a  period  long  anterior  to  the  advent  of  Christ, 
we  find  this  prophecy:  "Some  day  a  religion  will  come 
from  the  West,  that  shall  be  under  the  protection  of  the 
sword,  but  which  shall  spread  by  persuasion." 

More  remarkable  still  is  this  declaration,  contained  in 
their  holy  books:  "Vishnu  and  Buddha  now  rule,  and 
to  them  the  people  offer  worship.  Yet  Avhen  some  one 
shall  come  who  can  offer  a  greater  sacrifice  than  any 
man  can  offer,  he  shall  take  their  place,  and  to  him  shall 
worship  be  paid." 

One  of  the  most  wonderful  of  these  prophecies  of 
Christ  is  that  which  is  attributed  to  Zoroaster.  It  dates 
back  to  perhaps  1200  B.  C,  and  possibly  was  known  to 
the  wise  men  who  followed  the  star  of  Bethlehem.  It  is 
in  these  words:  "In  the  later  times  a  virgin  shall  con- 
ceive and  bear  a  cliild,  and  when  he  is  born,  a  star  shall 
appear  shining  in  the  day  time,  in  the  midst  of  which 
the  form  of  the  virgin  mother  shall  be  seen.  When, 
therefore,  ye  behold  it,  go  the  way  it  shall  lead  you, 
worship  the  new-born  child,  and  offer  him  your  gifts. 
He  is  the  Word  who  established  the  heavens." - 

Four  hundred  years  before  Christ,  Socrates,  in  Greece, 
entertained  an  expectation  of  the  near  advent  of  some 
supernatural  being  to  be  a  teacher  of  men.  He  said: 
"We  must  wait  till  some  one  comes  from  God  to  in- 


104  THE  WORLD-STORY 

struct  us  how  to  behave  toward  the  Divinity  and  to- 
ward man."  A  few  years  later,  Plato,  following  the 
example  of  his  great  teacher,  spoke  his  own  similar  ex- 
pectation, declaring:  "It  is  necessary  that  a  Lawgiver 
be  sent  fi'om  heaven  to  instruct  us.  .  .  .  Oh,  how 
greatly  do  I  desire  to  see  that  man,  and  who  he  is." 
In  his  Republic  Plato  has,  consciously  or  unconciously, 
recorded  one  of  the  clearest  of  the  pagan  delineations  of 
Christ.  It  is  his  description  of  his  ideal  Just  Man: 
"Without  doing  any  wrong,  he  will  assume  the  appear- 
ance of  being  unjust;  yea,  he  shall  be  scourged,  tortured, 
fettered,  .  .  .  and  after  having  endured  all  possible  suf- 
fering will  be  fastened  to  a  post,  and  will  restore  again 
the  beginning  and  prototype  of  righteousness." 

Concerning  the  state  of  Roman  ojiinion  Tacitus  says: 

"Among  many  there  was  a  persuasion  that  in  the  books  of  the 
ancient  priesthood  it  was  written  that,  at  this  precise  time,  the 
East  should  become  mighty  and  that  the  sovereigns  of  the  world 
should  issue  from  Judea." 

Seutonius,  concerning  the  the  inhabitants  of  Babylon- 
ia, declares:  "In  the  East  an  ancient  and  consistent  opin- 
ion prevailed  that  it  was  fated  there  should  issue  from 
Judea,  those  who  should  obtain  universal  dominion." 
Nebuchadnezzar,  in  that  locality,  saw  one  "like  unto  the 
Son  of  God." 

Confucius  predicted  to  his  disciples:  "Anew  religion 
will  sometime  come  from  the  West.  It  will  pierce  to 
uttermost  parts  of  China  where  ships  have  never 
gone."  "In  the  West  the  true  saint  must  be  looked  for 
and  found." 

Mr.  Layard,  describing  the  figure  of  an  early  Nimrod 
king,  says:  "Round  his  neck  were  hung  the  four  sacred 
signs,  the  crescent,  the  star  or  sun,  the  trident  and  the 
cross."    We  have  seen  that  a  later  king  had  knowledge  of 


REVELATION  A:MID  EVOLUTION  105 

the  Son  of  God,  and  must  suppose  that  his  knowl- 
edge was  a  heritao-e  from  the  former  time  when 
the  cross  was  worn  by  the  Nimrod  kings;  but  it 
has  been  demonstrated  that  the  political  and  religious 
systems  of  that  earlier  period  were  antediluvian,  therefore 
the  cross,  as  a  part  of  that  old  symbolism,  was  also  ante- 
diluvian. 

Astarte,  the  Phoenecian  goddess,  is  represented  as 
bearing  a  cross. 

Concerning  this  symbol  the  Edinburgh  Review  of  Ju- 
ly, 1870,  has  the  folloAving: 

"Of  the  several  varieties  of  the  cross  still  in  vogue,  as  nation- 
al or  ecclesiastical  emblems,  in  this  and  other  European  states, 
and  distingui^^hod  by  the  familiar  appellations  of  St.  George,  St. 
Andrew,  the  Maltese,  the  Greek,  the  Latin,etc.,  there  is  not  one 
among  them  the  existence  of  which  may  not  be  traced  to  the 
remotest  antiquity.  They  were  the  common  property  of  the 
Eastern  nations.  No  revolution  or  other  casualty'  has  wrought 
any  perceptible  difference  in  their  several  foniis  or  delineations; 
they  have  passed  from  one  hemisphere  to  another  intact;  have 
survived  dynasties,  empires  and  races;  have  been  borne  upon  the 
crest  of  each  successive  wave  of  Aryan  population  in  its  course 
toward  the  West;  and,  having  been  reconsecrated  in  later  times 
by  their  lineal  descendants,  are  still  recognized  as  military  and 
national  badges  of  distinction.  .  .  .  Among  the  earliest  known 
types  is  the  crux  aiisata^  vulgarly  called  'the  key  of  the  Nile',be- 
cause  of  its  being  found  sculptured  or  otherwise  represented  so 
frequently  upon  Egyptian  and  Coptic  monuments.  It  has, 
however,  a  very  much  older  and  more  sacred  significance  than 
this.  It  was  the  symbol  of  symbols,  the  mystical  Tau,  'the 
hidden  wisdom,'  not  only  of  the  ancient  Egyptians,  but  also  of 
the  Chaldeans,  Phoenicians,  ^lexicans,  Peruvians,  and  of  every 
other  ancient  people  commemorated  in  ancient  history,  in  either 
hemisphere,  and  is  formed  very  similarly  to  our  letter  T,  with 
a  rouuilk't,  or  oval,  i)laced  immediately  above  it.  Thus  it  was 
figured  on  the  gigantic  emerald  or  gla.ss  statue  of  Serapis,  which 
was  transported  by  order  of  Ptolemy  Soter  from  Sinopc,  on  the 
shores  of  the  Black  Sea,  re-erected  within  the  famous  labyrinth 


106  THE  WORLD-STOEY 

which  encompassed  the  banks  of  Lake  Mceris,  and  destroyed 
by  the  victorious  army  of  Theodosius,  despite  the  earnest  en- 
treaties of  the  Egyptian  priesthood  to  spare  it,  because  it  was 
the  emblem  of  their  God  and  of  the  'life  to  come.'  Sometimes, 
as  may  be  seen  on  the  breast  of  the  Egyptian  mummy  in  the 
museum  of  the  London  University,  the  simple  T  only  is  plan- 
ted on  the  frustrum  of  a  cone;  and  sometimes  it  is  represented  as 
springing  from  a  heart;  in  the  first  instance  signifying  good- 
ness; in  the  second,  hope  or  expectation  of  reward.  *        *        * 

"Its  undoubted  antiquity,  not  less  than  its  extraordinary  diffu- 
sion, evidences  that  it  must  have  been,  as  it  may  be  said  to  be 
still  in  unchristianized   lands,   emblematical  of  some  funda- 
mental doctrine  or  mystery.    The   reader  will  not  have  failed 
to  observe  that  it  is  most  usually   associated  with  water;  it  was 
'the  key  of  the  Nile,'  that  mystical  instrument  by  means   of 
which,  in  thepopularjudgment  of  Egyptian  devotees,  Osiris  pro- 
duced the  annual  revivifying  inundations  of  the  sacred  stream; 
it  is  discernable  in  that  sacred  pitcher  or  vase  portrayed  on  the 
brazen  table  of  Bembus,  before  mentioned,  with  its  four  lips  dis- 
charging as  many  streams  of  water  in   opposite  directions;  it 
was  the  emblem  of  the  water  deities  of  the  Babylonians  in  the 
East  and  of  the  Gothic  nations  of  the  West,  as  well  as  that  of 
the  rain  deities  respectively  of  the  mixed  population  in  Amer- 
ica.   We  have  seen  with  what  peculiar  rites  the  symbol   was 
honored  by  those  widely  separated  races  in  the  western  hemis- 
phere; and  the  monumental  slabs  of  Ninevah,  now  in  the  muse- 
ums of  London  and  Paris,  show  us  how  it  was  similarly  honor- 
ed by  the  successors  of  the  Chaldeans  in  the  eastern.*    *    *    * 

In  Egypt,  Assyria,  and  Britain  it  was  emblematical  of  creative 
power  and  eternity;  In  India,  China,  and  Scandinavia,  of  heav- 
en and  immortality;  in  the  two  Americas,  of  rejuvenescence 
and  freedom  from  physical  suffering;  while  in  both  hemis- 
pheres it  was  the  common  symbol  of  the  resurrection,  or  'the 
sign  of  the  life  to  come;'  and,  finally,  in  all  heathen  commun  i- 
ties,  without  exception,  it  was  the  emphatic  type  of  the  sole  en- 
during evidence  of  the  Divine  Unity.  This  circumstance  alone 
determines  its  extreme  antiquity — an  antiquity,  in  all  likelihood, 
long  antecedent  to  the  foundation  of  either  of  the  three  great  sys- 
tems of  religion  in  the  East,  and,  lastly,  we  have  seen  how,  as 
a  rule,  it  is  found  in  conjunction  with  a  stream  or  streams  of  wat- 


REVELATION  AMID  EVOLUTION  107 

or,  with  exuberont  vegetation,  and  with  a  hill  or  mountainous 
region  —in  a  word,  with  a  land  of  fertility,  beauty,  and  joy. 
Thus  it  was  expressed  upon  those  circular  and  sacred  cakes  of 
the  Egyptians,  composed  of  the  richest  material— of  flour,  of 
honey,  of  milk— and  with  which  the  serpent  and  bull,  as  well 
as  other  reptiles  and  beasts  consecrated  to  the  service  of  Isis  and 
their  higher  divinities,  were  daily  fed;  and  upon  certain  festi- 
vals were  eaten  with  extraordinary  ceremony  by  the  people  and 
their  priests.  The  'cross-cake,'  says  Sir  Gardner  Wilkinson, 
'was  their  hieroglyph  for  civilized  land';  obviously  superior  to 
their  own,  as  it  was,  indeed,  to  all  other  mundane  territo- 
ries; for  it  was  that  distant,  traditional,  country,  of  sempiternal 
contentment  and  repose,  of  exquisite  delight  and  serenity, 
where  nature,  unassisted  by  man,  produces  all  that  is  necessary 
for  his  sustenation," 

"The  Buddhists  and  Brahmans,  who  together  Constitute  near- 
ly half  the  population  of  the  world,  tell  us  that  the  decussated 
figure,  (the  cross),  whether  in  a  simple  or  complex  form,  sym- 
bolizes the  traditional  happy  abode  of  their  primeval  ancestors 
—that  Paradise  of  Eden  toward  the  East  as  we  find  it  expressed 
in  the  Hebrew." 

The  eating  of  a  cross-cake  by  the  Egyptians  is  proof 
that  the  gospel  economy  was  known  to  the  patiarchs  of 
all  ages,  that  the  Eucharist  had  been  perverted  by  all 
the  priests  exept  Melchizedek,  who  brought  forth  bread 
and  wine. 

This  symbol,  then,  originally,  with  its  various  parts, 
represented  the  sacred  mount,  the  tree  of  life,  the  river 
of  life,  the  dignity  and  divine  fellowship  of  the  race  at 
the  time  of  its  blissful  innocence,  at  the  beginning;  and 
it  signified  the  resurrection  and  the  hope  of  eternal  life; 
the  regaining  of  friends,  following  the  great  ancestors, 
and  dwelling  with  God.  This  was  all  that  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  patriarchs  before  Abraham  had  attained  to  ; 
it  was  antediluvian  wisdom  treasured  as  mysteries  and 
transmitted  by  priesthoods,  and  surely  dates  back  to  the 
earliest  organizations  of  nations,  and  probably  was  part 


108  THE  WORLD-STORY 

of  the  archives  preserved  in  the  ark.  If  it  had  not  been 
an  aboriginal  possession  it  could  not  have  become  uni- 
versal. Star  worship,  or  sun  worship,  or  true  worship, 
does  not  prove  the  race  a  unit ;  it  is  the  niinutia  of  the 
faith,  the  details  of  the  forms  and  symbols,  that  point 
to  the  certainty  of  a  single  point  of  divergence,  not 
only  of  man,  but  of  what  men  hold  sacred — so  this  sym- 
bolism proclaims  the  civilized  nations  a  brotherhood,  as 
certainly  as  the  demonstration  of  a  problem  in  Euclid. 
This  is  the  "Light  of  Asia,"  that  all  the  changes  of  dy- 
nasties and  systems  have  not  displaced.  This  symbol- 
ism is  the  foundation  that  the  faith  of  half  of  the  hu- 
man race  is  built  upon,  and  is  the  bond  of  union  of 
widely  dissevered  nations.  Their  cross  is  a  prophecy, 
but  they  do  not  know  of  what.  They  are  hibernating 
in  their  Caves  of  the  North.  They  are  an  arrested  de- 
velopment. Icebergs  floating  down  into  the  temperate 
zone  keep  their  full  form  and  size,  till,  permeated  by 
the  general  warmth,  they  become  granulated  and  fall 
suddenly  away.  These  old  nationalities  wereonce  ad- 
justed to  their  conditions  and,  hoary  with  cosmic  dust, 
swept  with  great  momentum  down  through  the  stream 
of  the  years ;  the  conditions  now  are  changed  ;  the 
light  and  warmth  of  their  environments  have  permeated 
them,  and,  morally  speaking,  they  are  granulated,  like 
rotten  ice,  and  by  some  sudden  jar  or  commotion  of  the 
elements,  they  will  be  shattered,  and  go  down  in  the 
multitudinous  sea. 

The  bond  between  the  dissevered  nations  will  be  the 
same  again,  the  cross,  with  its  prophecy  fulfilled,  its 
promises  realized  and  its  "hidden  wisdom"  revealed,  the 
mystical  Tau,  glorified — the  common  symbol  of  a  re- 
united world. 


CAAPTER  XII. 

NOACIIID^    IX    AMERICA. 

Pi/thayoras  gave  Abarras,  the  hyperborean  magician,  a 
guiding  arrow,  that  it  might  be  useful  to  him  in  all  the 
difficulties  of  his  journey." 

"■Oaranes  devised  Baettda  contriving  stones,  that  moved 
as  having  life,  which  were  supposed  to  fall  from  heaven." 

The  following  preliminary  conclusions  can  be  arrived 
at  by  the  apriori  method: 

1.  The  cross  being  found  among  all  known  ancient 
nations,  ought  also  to  be  discoverable  in  America. 

2.  Pyramidal  temples  being  common  to  all  known  an- 
cient nations,  should  also  be  found  in  America. 

3.  As  traditions  of  the  flood  are  common  to  all  the 
other  nations,  they  should  be  present  in  America. 

4.  If  details  of  the  general  flood  are  found  in  America, 
the  supposition  of  a  local  cataclysm  would  not  account 
for  them. 

5.  As  writing  was  practiced  in  the  eastern  lands,  iu- 
scrip  tions  here  should  be  of  corresponding  date  and 
character. 

6.  As  an  ark  and  temple  had  previously  been  built, 
those  persons  who  first  came  to  this  country  were  capa- 
ble of  building  ships  to  come  in. 

"7.  As  the  true  faith  declined  in  the  eastern  world,  so 
should  it  be  found  to  have  done  in  this. 

8.  No  nation  ever  had  arts  that  did  not  seek  to  express 


110  THE  WORLD-STORY 

and  perpetuate  its  religious  system  by  tJiem,  therefore  the 
Americans  must  have  done  so. 

10.  The  most  ancient  faith  of  America  should  be  found 
to  have  been  monotheistic. 

11.  As  the  races  found  here  are  unlike  the  old  No- 
achians,  the  first  immigrants  must  have  perished. 

If  the  Bible  is  true  the  above  propositions  are  true, 
for  it  supports  them;  and  as  they  are  independently  and 
demonstrably  true,  therefore  the  Biblical  narrative  is 
true. 

Diodorus  Siculus,  a  Greek,  wrote  a  Historical  Library, 
in  forty  volumes,  extending  in  scope  from  the  earliest 
times  to  b.  c.  60.     In  it  is  the  following: 

"Over  against  Africa  lies  a  very  great  island,  many  days  sail 
from  Lydia  westward.  The  soil  there  is  fruitful;  a  great  part 
whereof  is  m.ountainous,  but  much  likewise  champaign,  which 
is  the  most  sweet  and  pleasant  part,  for  it  is  traversed  by  many 
navigable  streams,  and  beautiful  with  many  gardens  of  pleasure, 
planted  with  divers  sorts  of  trees  and  abundance  of  orchards. 
The  towns  are  adorned  with  stately  buildings,  and  banriueting 
houses  pleasantly  situated  in  their  gardens  and  orchards. 

This  description  is  not  unlike  that  given  by  Grijalva, 
and  other  early  navigators,  of  the  Central  American 
coast.  It  is  proof  that  the  sea  never  was  a  barrier  to 
such  men  as  led  forth  the  first  colonists.  Diodorus  fur- 
ther states; 

"The  Phoenicians  having  found  out  the  coast  beyond  the  pil- 
lars of  Hercules,  sailed  along  the  coast  of  Africa.  One  of  their 
shij)S,  on  a  sudden,  was  driven  by  a  furious  storm  far  off  into 
the  main  ocean.  After  they  had  lain  under  this  violent  tem- 
pest many  days,  they  at  length  arrived  at  this  island." 

Biarni,  an  Icelander,  was  driven  to  the  coast  of  Mass- 
achusetts in  the  year  a.  d.  985.  The  Basques  were  in 
the  practice  of  visiting  the  American  coast  before,  and 
at  the   time  of,  the   discovery  by  Columbus.     The  Ma- 


NOACHID.E  IN  AMERICA  111 

yas  were  not  inefficient  as  sailors.  Columbus  saw  them 
near  Ruatan,  a  hundred  miles  from  the  coast,  in  a  sail- 
ing vessel  manned  by  twenty  men  and  laden  with  textile 
fabrics,  furniture  and  cocoa.  These  facts  destroy  the 
learned  theory  that  the  Americans  are  autocthones. 
Why  did  the  ancients  have  so  much  to  say  about  a  great 
Saturnian  Continent?  As  direct  evidence  that  people 
of  the  eastern  side  of  the  sea  reached  this  side,  is  the 
following  from  Priest: 

"In  the  month  of  December,  1827,  a  planter  discovered  in  a 
field  a  short  distance  from  Montevideo,  South  America,  a  sort 
of  tonib-stone,  upon  which  strange,  and  to  him  unknown,  char- 
acter or  signs  were  engraved;  .  .  two  exceedingly  ancient 
swords,  a  helmet  and  a  sliield  which  had  suffered  much 
from  rust;  also  an  earthen  vessel  of  large  capacity.  The  transla- 
tion of  the  (Greek)characters  read:  'During  the  dominion  of 
Alexander,  son  of  Phillip,  king  of  of  Macedon,  in  the  sixty- 
third  Olympiad,  rtolemais.'" 

On  the  helmet  was  a  representation  of  Achilles  drag- 
ging the  corpse  of  Hector  around  the  walls  of  Troy. 

The  dispersion,  like  the  preservation,  was  miraculous. 
The  prophecies  interwoven  with  the  account  of  the 
flood  require ,not  only  that  the  dispersion  be  divinely  di- 
rected but  that  the  races  be  under  divine  control  until 
the  fulfillment  be  accomplished.  A  prediction  includes 
a  knowledge  of  all  the  processes  and  conditions  of  its 
f  ultillment.  The  only  reason  for  supposing  that  Ameri- 
ca Avas  not  included  in  the  expression,  "all  the  earth,"  as 
used  in  connection  Avitli  the  apportionment  of  the  lands 
to  the  descendants  of  Noah,  is  the  difficulty  of  getting 
to  if,  but  as  greater  difficulties  have  been  "tided"  over 
in  the  history,  this  one  should  not  be  considered  insur- 
mountable. Having  the  whole  Biblical  account 
confirmed  except  this  one  thing,  and  it  paralleled  in 
modern      instances,      and      its      accomplishment      the 


112  THE  WORLD-STORY 

necessary  preliminary  to  known  facts  and  conditions, 
deduction  requires  the  admission  of  this  early  migration, 
whether  it  was  miraculous  or  not. 

It  is  admitted  that  inspiration  was  more  common  in 
the  olden  time,  and  the  argument  from  analogy  is  strong 
that  in  that  remote  era  there  was  some  earlier  Colum- 
bus who  had  enough  of  knowledge  and  inspiration  to 
reach  these  inviting  shores.  The  founders  of  the  an- 
cient states  knew  the  shape  of  the  earth  and  it  is  not 
improbable  that  they  had  traditions  of  America. 

Upon  the  supposition  that  one  of  the  old-time  seers  led 
a  pioneer  colony  to  this  coast,  the  difference  between  him 
and  Columbus  in  knowledge  and  inspiration,  is  slight. 
Columbus  quoted  and  followed  Ptolemy  concerning  the 
rotundity  of  the  earth,  and  Nimrod  knew  that  much. 
As  to  inspiration:  Columbus  was  an  advanced  student 
of  the  Bible,  and  he  thought  that  the  fulfillment  of 
the  prophecies  required  the  establishment  of  communica- 
tion between  all  parts  of  the  earth.  The  Bible  is  still 
extant  in  which  he  marked  the  passages  tliat  relate  to 
what  he  thousrht  to  be  his  mission.  lie  thought  him- 
self  the  agent  of  heaven  to  extend  the  influence  of  the 
Catholic  Church,  and  to  bear  the  knowledge  of  Christ  to 
foreign  lands.  In  a  letter  to  the  nurse  of  the  prince, 
John,  he  said:  "God  made  me  the  messenger  of  the  new 
heaven  and  the  new  earth,  of  which  he  spoke  in  the 
Apocalypse  of  St.  John,  after  having  spoken  of  it  by  the 
mouth  of  Isaiah;  and  he  showed  me  the  spot  where  to 
find  it.     To  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  he  wrote: 

"In  the  execution  of  my  western  enterprise  to  India,  human 
reason,  mathematics  and  charts  availed  me  nothing.    The  de- 
sign was  simply  accomplished  as  the  prophet  Isaiah  had  predict- 
ed.   Before  the  end  of  the  world,  all  prophecies  must  be  fulfill- 
ed, the  gospel  be  preached  over  all  the  earth,  and  the  holy  city 


XOACHID.E  IN  AMERICA  113 

restored  to  the  church.  The  Lord  wished  to  do  a  miracle  by 
my  voyage  to  India.  It  was  necessary  to  hasten  his  purpose, 
because,  according  to  the  calculations,  there  only  remain  a  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  to  the  end  of  the  world." 

During  his  last  voyage,  when  trouble  and  grief  drove 
him  to  mutinous  murmuring  against  the  Providence  of 
God,  G(pd  by  an  audible  voice  spoke  to  Columbus,  re- 
minding him  of  the  great  distinction  that  had  been  con- 
ferred upon  him  in  making  him  the  discoverer  of  a  great 
realm,  and  sending  forth  his  fame  to  all  generations. 
Columbus,  expressing  no  doubt  or  surprise,  and  recog- 
nizing the  source  of  the  consolatory  message,  breaks 
out  with  lofty  strains  of  praise. 

The  ruins  of  America  have  not  been  classified  with 
reo-ard  to  their  differences  of  age  and  origin.  It  has  not 
been  determined  what  is  antediluvian,  what  post-diluvi- 
an, what  ancient,  w^hat  medieval,  and  what  modern. 
The  difficulties  of  making  such  a  classification  while  the 
inscriptions  are  unread  are  insurmountable.  The  chief 
difficulty  is  the  persistency  of  rites,  types,  systems 
and  orders,  not  only  through  the  ages,  but  from  conti- 
nent to  continent,  and  through  successions  of  races,  col- 
onists and  conquerors.  We  have  had  this  truth  exem- 
plified in  all  this  history,  from  star  dust  down  to  the 
last  act  or  object  noticed — everything  is  made  up  of  all 
that  went  before  it  and  contained  in  all  that  folloAvs  after. 
Because  of  this  or  some  other  law  we  find  semblances 
here  of  every  civilisation  of  the  other  hemisphere  now 
extant,  or  that  ever  did  obtain. 

The  veil  has  not  been  lifted;  w^e  walk  in  shadows  and 
must  be  satisfied  with  guesses. 

The  pyramidal  temple  in   America   extends   through 

many  zones  and  many  ages.     MacLcan,  in  Mound  15iiild- 

ers,  page  45,  describes  the  temple  mounds  of  Ohio: 
II 


114  THE  WORLD-STORY 

"This  class  of  mounds  is  characterized  by  their  great  regularity 
of  form,  large  dimensions,  and  are  chiefly  truncated  pyramids, 
having  graded  avenues  or  spiral  pathways  to  their  summits. 
In  form  they  were  round,  square,  oval,  oblong,  or  octangular, 
all  having  the  appearance  of  being  left  in  an  unfinished  condi- 
tion. They  are  generally  high,  yet  examples  are  known  in 
which  they  are  only  a  few  feet  in  elevation.  They  are  usually 
surrounded  by  embankments.  They  are  not  numerous  in  Ohio, 
occurring  only  at  Marietta,  Newark,  Portsmouth  and  in  the 
vicinity  of  Chillicothe.  The  further  south  we  go  the  more  num- 
erous and  the  greater  in  magnitude  they  become — being  very 
abundant  in  Tennessee  and  Mississippi.  The  summits  of  these 
mounds  were  probably  crowned  with  temples  constructed  of 
wood,  but  no  traces  remain  to  tell  of  their  existence." 

The  authorities  are  a  good  deal  puzzled  by  the  fact 
that  the  moats  that  surround  the  mounds  are  inside  of  the 
embankment.  If  intended  for  defense  this  position  would 
be  preposterous,  but  as  representations  of  the  encircling 
river  of  the  sacred  Mount,  the  moats  are  just  as  we  might 
expect  them  to  be. 

The  monarch  of  the  mounds  is  that  of  Cahokia,  Ills. 
It  was  situated  in  a  group  of  sixty  structures,  its  form  a 
parallelogram,  wath  sides  respectively  seven  hundred  and 
five  hundred  feet  at  the  base.  The  summit  was  trunca- 
ted, affording  a  platform  two  hundred  by  four  hundred 
and  fifty  feet.  Upon  the  summit,  as  is  supposed,  was 
a  capacious  temple;  being  of  wood  it  has  disappeared. 

Priest  gives  the  following  description  (page  568): 

"Not  many  years  since,  was  discovered  by  Spanish  hunters, 
on  descending  the  cordilleras  toward  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  in  the 
thick  forest,  the  pyramid  of  Papontla.  The  form  of  this  teocalli 
or  pyramid,  which  had  seven  stories,  is  more  tapering  than  any 
other  monument  of  this  kind  yet  discovered;  but  its  height  is 
not  remarkable,  being  but  fifty-seven  feet;  its  base  but  twenty- 
five  feet  on  each  side.  However,  it  is  remarkable  on  one  ac- 
count; it  is  built  entirely  of  hewn  stone  of  an  extraordinary 
size  and  very  beautifully  shaped.    Three  staircases  lead  to  the 


XOACHID.E  IN  AMERICA  115 

top,  the  steps  of  which  are  decorated  with  hieroglyphical  sculp- 
tures, and  serpents  and  crocodiles." 

Cholula  is  a  pyamidal  mound,  cased  with  unburned 
bricks,  stone  and  plaster,  and  is  one  hundred  and  eighty- 
feet  high,  with  four  terraces,  truncated,  and  facing  the 
cardinal  points.  Its  base  is  1,400  feet  square,  and  it 
covers  forty-five  acres.  The  platform  on  top  is  an  acre 
in  extent  and  in  its  center  is  a  temple  built  by  Spaniards. 
AVhere  a  road  has  been  constructed  over  it,  two  skele- 
tons and  a  number  of  vases  and  idols  of  basalt  have 
been  found.  It  was  built  before  the  Aztecs  came  into 
the  country,  but  was  occupied  by  them  for  the  worship 
of  Quetzalcoatl.  At  the  time  of  Humboldt's  visit  the 
natives  still  believed  that  Cholula  was  built  by  giants 
from  the  tower  of  Babel,  for  the  purpose  of  escaping 
another  deluge;  and  that  fire  from  heaven  had  caused 
them  to  abandon  the  enterprise.  The  origin  of  the 
great  structure  is  unknown.  Its  condition  of  decay  in- 
dicates that  it  is  older  than  the  Toltec  period.  "The 
Mexicans  around  Cholula  had  a  special  legend  concer- 
ing  the  escape  of  a  remnant  of  them  from  the  great 
deluge. 

"At  the  time  of  the  cataclysm,  the  country,  according  to  Rios, 
was  inhabited  by  giants.   ...  .... 

"When  the  waters  were  assuaged,  one  of  the  giants,  Xelhua, 
Kurnamed  the  architect,  went  to  Cholula  and  began  to  build  an 
artificial  mountain,  as  a  monument,  and  a  memorial  of  the 
Tlaloc  that  had  sheltered  him ;  and  when  the  angry  waters 
swept  througli  all  the  land.  .  .  .  Then  were  the  jealousy  and 
anger  of  the  gods  aroused,  as  the  huge  pyramid  rose  slowly  up, 
threatening  to  reach  the  clouds  and  the  great  heaven  itself; 
and  the  gods  launched  their  fire  upon  the  builders  and  slew 
many,  so  that  the  work  was  stopped ;  but  the  half  finishe<l 
structure,  afterward  dedicated  by  the  Cholultecs  to  Quetzalcoatl, 
still  remains  to  show  how  well  Xelhua  the  giant,  deserved  his 
name  of  the  architect." — Bancrop. 


116  THE  WORLD-STORY 

Its  Mexican  name  signifies  "mountain  of  unburnt 
brick."     The  bricks  alternate  with  small  stones. 

"About  the  time  the  Quinames  were  defeated,  the  pyramid  of 
Cholula  was  erected  under  the  direction  of  a  chief  named  Xel- 
hua.  The  occasion  of  its  being  built  seems  to  have  been  con- 
nected in  some  way  with  a  flood,  probably  that  mentioned  in 
the  Quiche  traditions,  the  reports  of  which  may  or  may  not  be 
founded  on  an  actual  inundation  more  than  usually  disastrous  in 
a  country  subject  to  periodical  overflow(?).  The  authorities  are 
not  agreed  whether  the  mighty  mound  was  intended  as  a  me- 
morial monument  in  honor  of  the  builder's  salvation  from  a  for- 
mer flood,  or  as  a  place  of  refuge  in  case  the  flood-gates  of  the 
skies  should  again  be  opened ;  neither  is  it  settled  whether 
Xelhua  was  an  Olmec  or  a  Quiname  chieftan,  although  most 
authors  incline  to  the  former  opinion.  Of  course  the  Spanish 
writers  have  not  failed  to  connect  this  pyramid  in  some  way 
with  the  Hebrew  traditions  respecting  the  tower  of  Babel,  es- 
pecially as  work  on  the  Cholula  tower  was  stopped  by  fire,  sent 
from  heaven  by  the  irritated  deities." — Bancroft. 

Of  burial  mounds,  the  one  at  Grave  Creek,  W.  Va.  is 
type.  It  is  of  immense  size,  and,  like  Cheops,  contained 
two  chambers.  In  the  chambers  two  skeletons  were  found, 
and  it  was  doubtless  a  royal  sepulchre.  With  the  skele- 
tons were  shell  beads,  copj^er  bracelets,  carved  stones 
and — if  genuine — an  engraved  stone.  Another  stone 
found  in  a  neighboring  mound  had  straight  lines  mark- 
ed upon  it.  Oaths  are  poor  evidence  unless  very  explicit, 
and  in  this  instance  the  oath  of  the  finder  does  not  cover 
the  case;  but  other  tests  are  confirmatory.  The  Congress 
of  Americanists  at  Nancy  regarded  the  inscription  as  gen- 
uine, similar  to  the  Phoenecian  and  partially  deciphera- 
ble.    E.  R.  Emerson  in  Indian  Myths,  p  310,  says: 

"Upon  a  Babylonian  cylinder,  that  is  thought  to  represent  the 
building  of  the  tower  of  Babel,  is  seen  the ,  closed  cross  at  the 
base  of  a  pai-allelogram;  and  in  another  cylinder,  illustrating  the 
migration  or  an  Eastern  tribe,  the  plain  cross  within  a  parallel- 
ogram is  seen.    These  cylinders  are  relics  of  the  earliest  Babylo- 


NOACHID.E  IN  AMERICA  117 

nian  people,  and  their  inscriptions  are  of  a  cuneiform  character, 

of  which  the  following  is  an  illustration 

copied  from  a  fragment  of  pottery,  found  by  Layard  in  his  exca- 
vation at  Nimroud. 

In  an  Indian  mound  a  globular  stone  was  excavated,  bearing 
inscriptions  like  the  adjoining  characters.  .  .  .  The  first  are 
seen  to  be  hke  the  fifth  and  second  characters  in  the  Babylonian 
inscription. 

Upon  the  celebrated  amulet  taken  from  the  Grave  Creek  mound, 
Ohio,  are  seen  devices,  similar  to  the  cuneiform  inscriptions  on 
the  preceding  page.  Their  verisimilitude  to  the  other  characters 
of  Indian  pictography  will  be  recognized  and  their  authenticity 
admitted;  although  their  resemblance  to  an  alphabetic  form  of 
writing  has  been  the  subject  of  controversy." 

A  great  antiquity   for  the  mounds  is  claimed  by    this 

writer,  though  rather  indiscriminately: 

"The  mounds  bear  evidence  of  great  antiquity;  on  the  sum- 
mits are  trees  eight  hundred  years  old.  .  .  It  appears  that  the 
mounds  are  the  earliest  records  of  the  aboriginees,  bearing  marks 
of  antiquity  perhaps  even  greater  than  that  of  the  hieroglyphic 
figures  upon  the  moss-grown  rocks.  Their  conformation  is  re- 
markably various.  Distinguishing  the  object  and  purpose  of 
their  structure,  are  seen  the  sacrificial,  the  burial,  the  festival, 
the  matrimonial  and  the  historic  mounds." 

Since  the  older  mounds  were  abandoned  garden  beds 
have  been  made  on  them.  These  beds  consist  of  low, 
rectangular  ridges  four  feet  apart,  not  unlike  corn  rows. 
The  Indians  have  have  no  traditions  of  them,  conse- 
quently they  are  attributed  to  an  intermediate  race  called 
"Villagers." 

The  men  under  consideration  were  associated  Avith  the 
elephant.  In  a  cave  on  the  Ohio,  tw^enty  miles  below 
the  mouth  of  the  Wabash,  are  hieroglyphics  like  those 
of  the  early  nations,  and  pictures  of  extinct  animals,  and 
among  them  is  one  of  an  elephant.  This,  with  elephant 
pipes  and  the  great  elephant  mound  of  Wisconsin,  prove 
that  this  country  was  inhabited  at  a  time  corresponing  to 


118  THE  WORLD-STORY 

that  of  the  origin  of  eastern  nations,  and  the  Avorhip  of 
the  mastodon's  head  in  Central  America  pertains  to  the 
same  era. 

Prescott,  in  treating  of  the  origin  American  civiliza- 
tion, concludes:  "First,  That  the  coincidences  are  suffi- 
cient to  authorize  the  belief  that  the  civilization  of  Ana- 
huac  was  in  some  degree  influenced  by  that  of  Asia. 
And,  Second,  That  the  discrepancies  are  such  as  to  car- 
ry back  the  communication  to  a  remote  period. 

Votan  "was  the  supposed  founder  of  the  Maya  civili- 
zation.    He  is  said  to  have  been  a  descendant  of  Noah, 
and  to  have  assisted  at  the  building  of  the  tower  of  Ba- 
bel.    After  the  confusion  of   tongues  he  led    a    portion 
of  the  dispersed  people  to  America.     There  he  establish- 
ed the  Kingdom  of  Xibalba,    and   built  the  city  of  Pa- 
lenque.     It  is  certain  that  from  them  [Votan  and  Quet- 
zalcoatl],  whether   heroes,  priests,    rulers    or   warriors. 
Central  America  received  the  culture  which  their  succes- 
sors brought  to  such  wonderful  perfection.     The  knowl- 
edge of  one  supreme  being  appears  to  have  been  among 
the  first  dogmas  instilled  into  the  minds  of  the  people.  . 
Votan  was  the   first  historian  of  his  people,  and  wrote  a 
book  on  the  origin  of  the  race,  in  which  he  declares  him- 
self a  Snake,  a  descendant  of  Imos,  of  the  line  of  Cham, 
of  the  race  of  Chivim.  ...... 

"According  to  Ordonez,  Votan  proceeded  by  divine  com- 
mand to  America  and  there  portioned  out  the  land.  He 
accordingly  departed  from  Valum  Chivim,  where  he 
took  with  him  several  of  his  family  to  form  the  nucleus 
of  the  settlement.  "With  them  he  passed  the  island-strewn 
Laguna  de  Terminos,  ascended  the  Usumacinta,  and 
here,  on  one  of  its  tributaries  founded  Nachan,  or  Pa- 
lenque,  the  future  metropolis  of  a  mighty  kingdom,  and 
one  of    the  reputed    cradles   of   American    civilization. 


NOACHID^  IN  AMERICA  119 

After  the  establishment  of  his  government,  Votan 
made  four  visits  to  his  early  home.  On  his  first 
visit  he  came  to  a  great  city  wherein  a  magnificent  tem- 
ple was  in  course  of  erection.  This  city  Ordonez  sup- 
posed to  be  Jerusalem.  He  next  visited  an  edifice 
which  had  been  originally  intended  to  reach  heaven,  an 
object  defeated  by  a  confusion  of  tongues." 

The  above  is  taken  from  Mr.  Bancroft's  work.  The 
nations  of  Central  America  and  Mexico  had  an  extensive 
literature  in  various  languages,  a  heritage  rather  than  a 
product.  It  abounds  in  confused  references  to  the  land- 
marks of  universal  history.  The  above  extract  is  a  sam- 
ple, and  is  history.  Like  the  beginnings  of  history  else- 
where, it  is  confused  and  things  are  seen  through  a  glass 
darkly.  Yotan  could  not  have  been  the  founder,  as  Imox 
and  Ish  have  this  distinction  in  the  calendars;  Nor  could 
Votan's  exploits  include  so  much;  but  somebody  came 
from  Babel. 

"Vega  believes  that  the  original  population  of  Chiapas 
and  Socunosco  were  of  the  race  of  Cham.  The  twenty  heroes 
whose  names  are  immortalized  in  the  calendar  of  the  Chiapi- 
anecs  are  commonly  said  to  have  been  the  founders  and  first 
ralers  of  that  nation,  We  are  told  that  they  all  distinguislied 
themselves,  and  that  some  died  in  their  beds,  some  on  the  bat- 
tle field,  and  others  at  the  hands  of  their  rivals;  but  beyond 
this,  scarcely  any  record  of  their  lives  has  survived.  It  appeai-s 
by  the  calendar  that  Imox,  sometimes  called  Mox,  and  occa- 
sionally Ninus,  was  the  first  settler  in  Chiapas,  according  to  the 
worthy  prelate  above  mentioned.  This  Ninus  was  the  son  of 
Belo,  who  was  the  son  of  Nimrod,  who  was  the  son  of  Chus, 
who  was  the  grandson  of  Cham.  He  was  represented  by,  or 
with  a  ceiba  tree,  from  whose  roots,  it  is  said,  the  Chiapanecs 
sprang." 

In  the  Popol  Vuh,  the  national  book  of  the  Quiches, 
translated  by  Ximenez,    is  the  travels   of   the    Quiches 


120  THE  WORLD-STORY 

from  a  happy   eastern  land   beyond  the   sea,  to  Tulan. 
One  passage  relates  the  confusion  of  tongues. 

The  Chimali^oiDoca  manuscript,  treating  of  the  flood, 
says:  The  very  mountains  were  swallowed  up  in  the 
flood,  and  the  waters  remained  lying  tranquil  during 
fifty-two  spring  times,  but  before  the  flood  began,  Tet- 
lachuan  had  warned  the  man  Nanta,"  &c. 

It  ai:)pears  that  this  pyramid  continued  as  first  built 
until  after  the  time  of  Quetzalcoatl,  who  predicted,  after 
his  departure,  great  calamities.  "Only  a  few  days  after 
his  departure  occurred  the  earthquake  which  destroyed 
the  pyramid  at  Cholula,  the  American  Babel,  and  ush- 
ered in  the  new,  or  fourth,  age  of  fire,  according  to  Ixt- 
lilxochitl.  On  the  ruins  of  the  pyramid  was  built  a 
temple  to  Quetzalcoatl,  who  was  afterward  worshiped 
as  a  god." 

The  early  annals  of  the  old  world,  we  have  seen, 
abound  with  traditions  of  giants,  and  as  we  have  found 
all  other  myths  duplicated  in  America,  we  might  expect 
to  find  this  particular  class  of  legends  paralleled  also. 
Bancroft  supplies  the  following:    ' 

"Our  knowledge  of  Olmec  history  subsequent  to  their  first 
appearance,  is  confined  to  a  few  events  which  occurred  in 
Paebla.  Here,  chiefly  on  the  Rio  Atoyac,  near  Puebla  de  los 
Angeles  anl  Cholula,  they  found  the  Qainames,  or  giants, 
a  powerful  people,  who  long  kept  them  subordinate  in 
rank.  These  Quinames,  as  Ixtlilxochitl  states,  were  sur- 
vivors of  the  great  destruction  which  closed  the  second  age 
of  the  world.  They  were,  according  to  Veytia,  more  like  brutes 
than  rational  beings  ;  their  food  was  of  raw  meat,  of  birds  and 
Ijsasts,  which  they  hunted  indiscriminately,  fruits  and  wild 
herbs,  since  they  cultivated  nothing ;  but  they  knew  how  to 
make  pulque  with  which  to  make  themselves  drunk;  going  en- 
tirely naked,  with  disheveled  hair.  They  were  cruel  and  proud ; 
yet  they  received  tlie  strangers  kindly,  perhaps  through  fear  of 


XOACHID.E  IX  AMERICA  121 

their  great  numbers,  they  being  so  few,  and  magnanimously 
permitted  them  to  settle  in  their  lands.  *  *  * 

"The  Quinames,  traditionally  assigned  as  the  first  inhabit- 
ants of  nearly  .every  part  of  the  country,  have  been  the  subject 
of  much  discussion  by  the  Spanish  writers.  Yeytia  rejects  the 
idea  that  a  race  of  giants  existed,  and  Clavigero  considers  their 
existence  as  a  race  very  doubtful ;  although  admitting  that  there 
were,  doubtless,  individuals  of  great  size.  Most  other  writers  of 
this  class,  accept  more  or  less  literally  the  tradition  that  there 
were  giants  who  were  the  tii-st  dwellers  in  the  land.  .  .  . 
While  it  is  impossible  to  decide  in  the  matter,  it  may  be  regard- 
ed as  moi-e  than  likely  that  this  foe  was  a  branch  of  that  over- 
thrown in  the  south  ;  that  the  Xibalban  power,  as  well  as  that  of 
the  Xahuas,  extended  far  toward  Anahuac  in  the  early  days 
that  the  great  struggle  was  carried  on  in  the  north  as  well  as 
the  south." — Bancroft. 

"After  the  deluge  spoken  of  in  the  LakeTahoe  myth, 
the  few  who  escaped  built  up  a  great  tower,  the  strong 
making  the  weak  do  the  work.  This,  it  is  distinctly 
stated,  they  did  that  they  might  have  a  place  of  refuge 
in  case  of  another  flood.  But  the  Great  Spirit  was  fill- 
ed with  anger  at  their  presumption,  and,  amidst  thunder- 
ings  and  lightnings,  and  showers  of  molten  metal,  he 
seized  the  oppressors  and  cast  them  into  a  cavern." 

"These  myths,"  continues  Bancroft,  "have  led  many 
writers  to  believe  that  the  Americans  had  a  knowleds^e 
of  the  tower  of  Babel,  while  some  think  they  are  the 
direct  descendants  of  certain  of  the  builders  of  that 
tower,  who,  after  the  confusion  of  tongues,  wandered 
over  the  earth  until  they  reached  America." 

The  following  is  as  complete  a  Paradise  myth  as  if 

it  had  not  been  imported  from  beyond  the    flood   and 

sea.     Cueuhcatl  says  to  the  elder  Montezuma: 

'"Our  fathers  lived  in  the  happy  and  prosperous  place  which 
they  called  Aztlan,  which  means  'whiteness.'  In  this  place  there 
is  a  groat  mountain  in  the  middle  of  the  water,  which  is  called, 
Culhuacan,  because  it  has  the  point  of  it  somewhat  turned  over 


122  THE  WORLD-STORY 

toward  the  bottom,  and  for  this  cause  it  is  called  Culhuacan, 
which  means  'crooked  mountain.'  In  this  mountain  were  some 
openings,  or  caves  or  hollows,  where  our  ancestors  dwelt  for 
many  years;  there,  under  these  names  Mexiten  and  Aztec;  they 
had  much  repose;  there  they  enjoyed  a  great  plenty  of  geese;  of 
all  species  of  birds  and  water  fowls;  enjoyed  the  song  and  melo- 
dy of  birds  with  yellow  crests;  enjoyed  many  kinds  of  large 
and  beautiful  fish;  enjoyed  the  freshness  of  trees  that  were  upon 
those  shores,  and  fountains  enclosed  with  elders,  and  savinsQu- 
nipers),  and  alder  trees,  both  large  and  beautiful.  They  went 
about  in  canoes,  and  made  furrows  in  which  they  planted  maize, 
pepper,  tomatoes,  beans  and  all  kinds  of  seeds  that  we  eat." 

There  has  been  much  inductive  search,  in  va- 
rious parts  of  America  and  of  the  world,  for  the  cele- 
brated "seven  caves"  of  Aztec  and  Toltec  tradition;  but 
they  will  prove  to  be  mythical,  and  primarily  meant 
the  seven  stars  of  the  Great  Bear;  a  secondary  meaning 
Avas  the  Tower  of  Babel,  the  first  earthly  representative 
of  the  celestial  scenery.  Mr,  Squire  unwittingly  gives 
evidence  to  this  fact.  In  arguing  for  a  southern,  as 
opposed  to  a  northern,  origin  of  the  Aztecs,  he  says: 

It  is  a  significant  that,  in  the  map  of  their  migrations 
presented  by  Gemeli,  the  place  of  the  origin  of  the  Aztecs,  is 
designated  by  the  sign  of  water  (Atl  standing  for  Aztlan),  a  pyr- 
amidal temple  with  grades,  and  near  these  a  palm  tree." 

The  ancient  American  nations  all  say  they  came  from 
beyond  the  sea,  from  the  Tower,  &c.,  but,  as  will  be 
seen,  the  Aztecs  and  Toltecs  did  not  come  directly 
from  the  Towner, 

"The  cross  is  one  of  the  most  common  emblems  pres- 
ent in  all  the  ruins."  The  Edinburg  review,  before 
quoted,  says: 

"It  [the  cross]  abounds  in  the  ruined  cities  of  Mexico  and 
Central  America,  graven  as  well  upon  the  most  ancient  cyclop- 
can  and  polygonal  walls,  as  upon  the  more  modern  and  perfect 
examples  of  masonry;  and  is  displayed  in  an  equally  conspicuous 


NOACHID.E  IN  AMERICA  123 

manner  upon  the  breasts  of  innumerable  bronze  statues  which 
have  been  recently  disinterred  from  the  cemetery  of  Juigalpa 
(of  unkno\A-n  antiquity)  in  Xicaragua.  ,  .  .  One  la- 
borious method  of  showing  it .  .is  instanced  in  the  great  tem- 
ple at  Mitla,  'the  City  of  the  Moon/  in  Ojaaca,  in  Central  Amer- 
ica, excavated  in  the  living  rock." 

"That  Sabian  worship  once  extensively  prevailed  in  the  New 
World  is  a  well  authenticated  fact;  .  .  evidenced  by  the  re- 
mains of  fire  altars  .  .  accordingly,  we  find,  among  these 
and  other  vestiges  of  anticjuity  that  indissolubly  connected  those 
long  since  extinct  populations  in  the  New,  with  the  races  of  the 
Old  World,  the  well  defined  svmbol  of  the  ^Maltese  cross.  On 
the  Mexican  feroher  before  alluded  to,  and  which  is  most  elabo- 
I'ately  carved  in  bass-relief  on  a  massive  piece  of  polygonous 
granite  constituting  a  portion  of  a  cycloi^ean  wall,  the  cross  is 
enclosed  within  the  ring,  and  accomjianying  it  are  four  tassel- 
like ornaments,  graved  equally  well.  These  accompaniments, 
hoTA'cver,  are  disposed  without  any  particular  regard  to  order, 
but  the  four  arms  of  the  cross,  nevertheless,  severally  and  accu- 
rately point  to  cardinal  quarters.  .  .  .  But  by  far  the 
most  remarkable  example  of  this  form  of  the  cross  in  the  New 
World  is  that  which  appears  on  a  second  type  of  the  INIexican 
feroher,  engraved  on  a  tablet  of  gypsum,  and  wiiich  is  des- 
cribed at  length  by  its  discoverer.  Captain  Du  Paix,  and  depict- 
ed by  his  friend,  M.  Baradere.  Here  the  accompaniments — a 
shield,  a  hamlet,  and  a  couple  of  bead-amulets  or  rosaries — are, 
with  a  single  exception,  identical,  in  even  the  minutest  particu- 
lar, with  the  Assyrian  monument  emblematic  of  the  deity." 

The  Pyramid  of  Cheops  in  Egypt  is  doubtless  one  of 
the  ancient  "high  places,"  and  as  the  pyramidal  temples 
were  symbolical  world-centers,  so  it  was  the  geographi- 
cal center  of  Egypt  and  of  the  inhabited  world;  and 
the  sun  at  the  time  of  the  summer  solstice  stood  di- 
rectly over  it  at  noon,  and  illuminated  each  side  alike. 
It  also  embodied  within  it  all  the  mathematical  and  as- 
tronomical knowledge  of  the  prehistoric  world.  Isaiah 
refers  to  in  the  high  sense  of  these  claims.  It  can  hard- 
ly be    supposed  that  American    pyramids   have    these 


124  THE  WORLD-STORY 

great  characteristics.  Senor  Garcia  y  Cubas  thinks  that 
the  pyramids  of  Teotihnacan  in  Mexico,  which  some 
call  the  most  ancient  of  that  country,  bear  the  follow- 
ing analogies  to  those  of  Egypt:  the  site  is  the  same; 
they  are  oriented;  the  line  through  the  centers  is  in  the 
astronomical  meridian;  they  are  graded  in  steps;  they 
have  a  "street  of  the  dead,"  answering  to  the  Egyptian 
"valley  of  the  dead;"  the  openings  and  interior  arrange- 
ments are  analogous. 

American  pyramids  include  both  classes  of  pointed 
and  truncated.     Desire  Charnay  says  of  Teotihucan: 

"The  city  is  indeed  of  vast  extent.  .  .  .  the  whole  ground, 
over  a  space  of  five  or  six  miles  in  diameter,  is  covered  with 
heaps  of  ruins — ruins  wliich  at  first  make  no  impression,  so 
complete  is  tlieir  dilapidation." 

And  again: 

"This  continent  is  the  land  of  mysteries ;  we  liere  enter  an 
infinity  whose  limits  we  can  not  estimate.  ...  I  shall  soon 
have  to  quit  work  in  this  place.  The  long  avenue  on  which  it 
stands  is  lined  witli  ruins  of  public  buildings  and  places  form- 
ing continuous  lines,  as  in  the  streets  of  modern  cities.  Still,  all 
these  edifices  and  halls  were  as  nothing  compared  with  the  vast 
substructures  which  strengthened  their  foundations." 

One  building  at  that  place  measured  two  thousand 
feet  on  each  side.  There  are  fifteen  pyramids  there 
and  each  one  is  nearly  as  large  at  the  base  as  that  of 
Ghizeh,  and  an  "ocean  of  ruins  all  around,  not  inferior 
in  size  to  those  of  Egypt;"  and  the  great  antiquity  of  all  is 
apparent  in  the  fact  that  the  highways  are  composed  of 
the  broken  bricks  and  pottery  of  earlier  ages.  Porcelain 
was  found  there,  "with  blue  figures  on  a  white  back- 
ground;" also  bronze  of  the  same  composition  as  that 
of  the  eastern  continent;  metallic  candle-sticks,  and 
copper  coins  in  the  shape  of  the  cross.  Here  was  found 
the  true  arch,  also  bricks,  cement,  sculptures  and  mason- 


NOACHID.E  IN  AMERICA  125 

ary  in  general,  strongly  resembling  the  same  things  in 
the  ancient  ruins  of  the  other  continent.  The  presence 
of  jilass-ware  calls  to  mind  the  lens  found  at  Ninevah 
and  telescopic  tubes  found  in  different  parts  of 
America.  These  discoveries  are  new,  showing  that 
America  has  yet  to  be  rediscovered,  and  awaits  a  Champol- 
lion.  Teotihuacan  links  the  Old  World  with  the  New; 
but  not  the  present  with  the  antediluvian  world,  though 
Cliarnay  found  in  the  ruins  of  Tula,  the  bones  of  swine, 
sheep,  oxen  and  horses,  that  were  fossilized.  The 
old  histories  say  that  the  first  colonists  that  came  to 
America  were  seeking  the  Terrestrial  Paradise,  in  other 
words,  seeking  their  home. 

A  copper  coin,  two  inches  in  diameter,  found  a  century 
ago  by  Ordonez,  at  Guatemala,  closely  resembles  coins 
of  the  Tyrians.  "M.  Dupaix  noticed  an  indication  of 
the  use  of  the  compass  on  the  center  of  one  of  its  sides. 
The  figure  on  the  same  side  represented  a  kneeling, 
bearded,  turbaned  man  between  two  fierce  heads,  per- 
haps crocodiles,  which  appear  to  defend  the  entrance 
to  a  mountainous  and  wooded  country.  The  reverse  is  a 
serpent,  coiled  around  a  fruit  tree,  and  an  eagle  on  a 
hill."  This  is  Old-world  imagery,  the  leaning  moun- 
tain, tree  of  knoAvlege,  etc.  A  gold  coin  of  the  weight 
of  twenty  dollars  is  said  to  have  been  found  in  Phila- 
elphia,  inscribed  with  unknown  characters.  Dr.  Brink 
found  an  ancient  gold  coin,  of  the  weight  of  two  dollars, 
eight  feet  below  the  surface  in  cemeted  gravel,  at  Old 
San  Bernardino,  California,  in  the  year  1856.  D.  S. 
Mills  of  Santa  Ana,  Cal.,  reports  his  finding  a  copper 
coin,  the  size  of  a  cent,  in  Dick's  Hill  Claim,  Condemn- 
ed Bar,  South  Fork  of  American  River,  Cal.  The  char- 
acters on  the  coin  M'cre  strange.     In  American  Antiqui- 


126  THE  WORLD-STORY 

ties,  page  1Y4,  is  mention  of  a  Persian  coin,  found  at 
Little  Miami,  O. 

Giordan  finds  striking  analogies  between  Egyptian 
ruins  and  those  of  the  middle  region  of  America;  and 
thinks  that  the  hieroglyphics  of  Palenque  and  Egypt 
are  the  same.  Senor  Melgar  thinks  the  presence  of  the 
mystical  Tau  at  Palenque  proves  relationship  with 
Egypt.  He  cites  a  plate  in  Dupaix's  work,  of  a  goddess 
with  a  necklace  supporting  a  Tau,  and  another  of  an  al- 
tar dedicated  to  Tau.  He  makes  mention  also  of  two 
idols  found  south  of  the  city  of  Mexico  in  one  of  which 
two  symbols  are  united,  namely,  the  Cosmogonic  Egg, 
symbolical  of  creation,  and  two  faces,  symbols  of  the 
generative  principle.  The  other  symbolized  creation 
in  the  bursting  forth  of  an  egg.  '-These,  symbols,"  he 
says,  "  are  not  found  in  the  Aztec  mythology,  but  belong 
to  the  Indian,  Egyptian,  Greek,  Persian,  Japanese  and 
other  cosmogonies." 

The  serpent-mound  in  Adams  county,  Ohio,  and  the 
idols  just  mentioned,  represent  the  same  ideas  and  prob- 
ably the  same  people.  In  the  so-called  palace,  at  Pa- 
lenque, are  tau-shaped  niches,  and  Mr  Short  says  of  them: 
"The  T  shaped  niche,  is  the  representative  of  a  numer- 
ous class  so  resembling  the  Egyptian  tau  or  cross  as  to 
excite  no  little  interest  in  its  origin." 

No  ancient  people  ever  got  rid  of  these  heathenish 
ideas,  but  the  Israelites,  and  they  often  relapsed  to  them. 

In  a  former  chapter  Brugsch's  chronology  has  been 
endorsed,  but  not  as  a  finality;  the  question  is  causing 
world-wide  investigation,  and  Mr.  Plongcon  renders 
New-World  dates  as  follows: 

"In»  Ake,  a  city  about  twenty-five  miles  from  Merida,  there 
exists  still  a  monument  sustaining  thirty -six  columns  of  Kattins. 
Each  of  these  columns  indicates  a  lapse  of  one  hundred  and  sixty 


NOACHID.E  IN  AMERICA  127 

years  in  the  life  of  the  nation.  They  then  would  show  that  5,760 
years  had  intervened  between  the  time  when  the  first  stone 
was  placed  on  the  east  corner  of  the  uppermost  of  the  three  im- 
mense superimposed  platforms  that  compose  the  stracturcs,  and 
the  placing  of  the  last  capping  stone  on  the  top  of  the  thirty- 
sixth  column.  How  long  did  that  event  occur  before  the  Span- 
ish conquest?  It  is  impossible  to  surmise.  Supposing,  however, 
it  did  take  place  at  that  time,  thi^  would  give  us  the  lapse  of  at 
least  6,100  years  since,  amid  the  rejoicings  of  the  people,  this 
sacred  monument  being  finished,  the  first  stone  that  was  to 
serve  as  a  record  of  the  age  of  the  nation,  was  laid  by  the  high 
l)riest,  where  we  see  it  to  day.  I  will  remark  that  Ake  is  one 
of  the  Egyptian  divinities,  the  third  person  of  the  triad  of 
Esneh;  always  represented  as  a  child,  holding  his  finger  in  his 
mouth.  Ake  also  means  a  reed.  To  day  the  meaning  of  the 
word  is  lost  in  Yucatan." 

Dr.  Plongeon  assures  us  that  the  first  Americans  were 
white  men,  with  long  beards  and  of  noble  mien,  and  so  like 
himself  that,  by  laying  his  face  beside  the  faces  sculp- 
tured on  the  monuments,  he  persuaded  the  nativesthat 
he  was  one  of  the  ancient  worthies  come  back  to  the 
glimpses  of  the  moon.  Notwithstanding  the  reports 
concerninijc  remnants  in  the  Tlerre  de  Guerre  and  Sonora, 
we  must  suppose  that  they  perished.  Notwithstanding 
the  doctrine  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest,  these  have  not 
survived.  None  are  left  to  guard  some  stronghold  made 
sacred  by  tradition;  and  although  their  monuments  are 
imperishable,  they  represent  an  extinct  race.  This  is  no 
more  mysterious  than  many  other  facts  in  archeology. 
The  mastodons  that  the  ancients  used  and  worshiped 
and  portrayed,  have  perished,  and  who  shall  explain  it? 
These  had  no  enemies,  and  when  the  plains  and  jungles 
were  left  to  their  free  occupancy,  they  should  have  mul- 
tiplied. We  have  a  history  of  the  overthrow  of  the  Tol- 
tecs.  It  is  vividly  drawn.  It  includes  all  horror  and 
disaster,  famine,    flood,    drouth,    war,    wickedness    like 


128  THE  WORLD-STORY 

that  of  the  antediluvians,  divination,  portents,  terror, 
demoralization  and  utter  desolation.  The  desolated 
places  of  America  are  a  strange  phenomenon,  famed  in 
all  lands  for  their  impenetrable  mystery. 

Delafield's  work  is  devoted  to  the  origin,  not  to  the 
fate,  of  of  the  first  Americans.  It  contains  a  migration 
map  eighteen  feet  long,  by  which  the  author  proves  the  or- 
igin of  the  people  to  have  been  beyond  the  sea;  but  it  was 
special  pleading  for  him  to  have  treated  the  map  as  though 
it  had  but  one  end.  The  map  is  a  genuine  antiquity.  It 
was  procured  in  Mexico  by  Botturini,  and  was  explain- 
ed by  him  according  to  the  traditional  method,  as  a  histo- 
ry of  the  Aztecs;  but  there  are  two  reasons  for  reject- 
ino-  this  conclusion.  The  map  represents  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  nation  whose  wanderings  it  traces,  and  the 
Aztecs  were  never  extirpated  or  reduced  to  a  single  in- 
dividual, as  it  represents.  Why  may  not  it  be  a  histo- 
ry of  the  more  ancient  people,  whose  fortunes  we  have 
been  following?  It  seems  but  reasonable  that  if  the 
chart  agrees  better  with  what  we  know  of  their  history, 
than  it  does  with  Aztec  history,  it  should  be  applied  to 
them.  Mr.  Bancroft  has  published  a  condensed  copy  of 
this  chart,  and  with  it  another  one,  also  said  to  be  a  his- 
tory of  the  Aztec;  but  as  the  two  do  not  agree  in  their 
delineations,  they  cannot  be  histories  of  the  same  people. 
It  is  not  improbable  then,  that  that  the  Botturini  Chart 
is  a  reproduction  by  the  Aztecs  of  the  history  of  their 
their  predecssors. 

Quoting  Mr.  Delafield,  the  first  scene  in  the  chart  is, 

"six  hieroglyphics,  each  denoting  the  word  calli,  or  house,  sur- 
rounding the  emblem  of  a  tumulus,  erected  for  worship.  Be- 
neath are  two  figures,  male  and  female;  the  latter  being  distin- 
guished by  two  small  tresses,  resembling  horns,  as  in  the  myth- 
ological painting  of  the  age  of  famine.    Attached  to  the  female 


XOACHID.E  IX  AMERICA  120 

is  an  emblem  used  heraldically,  and  points  her  out  as  one  of 
'the  children  of  the  sun' — a  title  claimed  equally  by  the  Hin- 
doos, ancient  Egyptians,  and  the  Peruvian  Incas." 

The  Gamelli  map  represents  the  starting  place  as  a 
mountain,  with  the  emblematical  tree  on  its  top  and  the 
encircling  waters  around  it;  the  Botturini  Map  repre- 
sents a  pyramidal  temple,  with  stages,  tree  and  encir- 
cling water.  This,  then,  is  the  Tower  of  Babel,  the  orig- 
inal of  all  temples  and  tumuli  on  both  continents. 

On  the  encircling:  water  is  the  fisrure  of  a  man  in 
a  boat,  and  this  may  mean  the  crossing  of  the  sea,  as 
the  "children  of  the  sun"  are  later  seen  in  procession. 

Mr.  Delafield  continues: 

"The  next  hieroglj^phic  is  a  cartouche,  enclosing  the  zodiacal 
sign  of  Tecpatl,  'silex,'  or  'knife,'  accompanied  by  a  ring  denoting 
a  year. 

"The  large  conical  figure  marked  3,  by  Bottoruni,  is  the  hiero- 
glyphic denoting  the  building  of  a  town.  The  emblem  phonet- 
ically giving  the  name  of  this  place  is  comprehended  within  a 
cartouche,  and  answers  to  the  name  of  Colhuacan.  "Whether 
these  conical  figures  have  any  reference  to  the  tumuli,  or  pyr- 
amidal structures,  remaining,  is  a  topic  for  the  fancy  of  the 
reader." 

There  will  be  none  to  doubt  that  the  conical  figure 
referred  to  represents  a  tumulus  or  pyramidal  structure. 
Within  it  is  the  character  for  the  Aztec  god,  Haatzila- 
pochtli,  but  words  from  him  are  going  up  to  heaven  as 
if  he  were  a  mortal  engaged  in  j^rayer. 

"We  then  come  to  a  row  of  eight  objects  each  giving  the  word 
calli,  or  house.  To  these  are  attached  figures  connected  with 
the  human  form From  this  we  may  gather  the  in- 
ference that  at  least  eight  prominent  tribes  constituted  the 
race  which  is  here  designated. 

"Following  on  the  traces  of  their  footsteps  we  next  come  to 
four  persons  standing  erect,  as  though  on  their  march.  They 
are  supposed  to  represent  the  family  of  the  emperor,  under 


130  THE  WORLD-STORY 

whose  guidance  the  journey  is  taken.  In  advance,  marches  the 
chief,  who  is  borne  upon  the  shoulders  of  one  of  the  race.  The 
phonetic  symbol  over  his  head,  designates  him  by  the  name 
Cohuatl,  or  serj-ient." 

Votan  called  himself  a  Snake,  which  shows  harmony 
between  the  Mexican  and  Central  American  legends. 

Farther   along   w^e    come  to    another   tumulus,  or   a 
mountain,  and  on  top  of  it  a  kneeling  figure,  with  tears 
rolling  from  his  eyes.     This  proves  that  the  leader  was 
guided  by  inspiration;    and    it   harmonizes  with   many 
traditions. 

A  man  shooting  birds  indicates  their  means  of  sup- 
port. 

The  map  is  long,  and  the  scenes  numerous,  and  the 
closing  ones  show  protracted  and  all-pervading  war. 
The  last  scene  and  act  in  this  bloody  drama  presents 
two  men,  one  fleeing,  and  the  other  in  pursuit,  with 
a  drawm  sword, 

The  question  of  the  existence  of  giants  on  this   conti- 
nent has  not  been  determined.     Mi*.  Bancroft's  affirma- 
tive evidence  consists  of  newspaper  reports.    That  kind 
of  evidence  is  abounding.     For  instance,  on  the  farm  of 
Harrison  Whaley,  Moorefield,  Kentucky,  are  relics,  des- 
cribed by  the  Carlyle  Mercury: 

"About  three  inclaes  beneath  the  surface  of  the  entire  tract 
may  be  found  innumerable  bones,  evidently  the  remains  of  an 
extinct  species  of  the  human  race.  Several  mounds  are  in  the 
woods  also,  and,  in  one  that  has  been  but  partially  explored, 
are  bones,  which  from  their  size,  must  have  l^elonged  to  a  race 
raoi-e  gigantic  tlian  the  race  whicli  now  inhabits  the  eartli.".  . 

Priest's  Antiquities,  page  338,  has  the  following: 

'■In  the  fourteenth  township  of  the  Holland  Company's  land, 
near  the  ridge  road  leading  from  Buffalo  to  Niagara  Falls,  is 

the  site  of  an  ancient  fort,   situated  in  a  large  swamj^ 

The  earth  that  forms  the  fort  was  evidently  brought  from  a  dis- 


NOACHID.E  IX  AMERICA  131 

tance The  distance  to  the  margin  of  the  marsh  is 

about  a  half  mile,  where  large  quantities  of  human  bones  have 
been  found  ,  on  opening  the  earth,  of  an  extraordinary  size;  the 
thigh  bones  were  about  two  inches  longer  than  a  common  sized 
man's.  The  jaw  or  chin  bone  will  cover  a  large  man's  face;  the 
skull  bones  are  of  enormous  thickness.  The  breast  and  hip 
bones  are  very  large.  On  being  exposed  to  the  air  they  soon 
moulder  away,  which  denotes  the  great  length  of  time  since 
their  interment.  The  disorderly  manner  in  which  these  bones 
were  found  to  be,  being  cross- wise,  commixed  and  mingled  with 
every  trait  of  confusion,  shows  them  to  have  been  deposited 
by  a  conquering  enemy.  There  is  no  evidence  of  a  bullet  hav- 
ing been  the  instrument  of  death." 


CHAPTER  XITT. 

LOST    TRIBES. 

The  mingling  of  divine  and  human  elements  in  the 
history  of  the  Hebrew  nation  leads  to  two  distinct 
views  of  the  causes  and  conditions  that  resulted  in  the 
dispersion  of  the  Ten  Tribes  of  Israel.  The  merely 
human  view  is,  that  the  claims  of  the  Hebrews  to  be  the 
chosen  people  of  God,  and  the  subjects  of  special  care, 
and  miraculous  guidance  and  deliverance,  is  principally 
imaginary,  and  a  delusion.  This  view  necessitates  the 
assumptions,  that  the  j)rofessed  history  of  events  was 
written  so  long  after  the  time  of  the  assumed  events  that 
legends  could  be  set  forth  as  facts;  that  the  ritual  that 
marked  the  end  of  the  development  of  the  system  was 
attributed  to  the  beginning;  that  it  was  not  till  the 
days  of  Hezekiah  that  the  ceremonial  law  was  formulat- 
ed that  is  now  attributed  to  Moses. 

The  Ten  Tribes  added  to  their  barbarities  and  gener- 
al immoralities  a  return  to  the  Egyptian  worship. 
There  was  idolatry,  despotism  and  corruption  through- 
out the  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  of  their  separate 
existence.  "Usurpation  followed  usurpation;  revolt  and 
regicide  became  common  events."  "Rotten,  and  decay- 
ed" through  barbarism,  despotism  and  anarchy,  the 
kingdom  could  not  withstand  the  repeated  onsets  of 
powerful  foes.  "Providence  was  on  the  side  of  the 
heaviest  battalions."  Tigleth  Pileser  carried  away  the 
people  of  the  northern  and  eastern  provinces.      Shal- 


LOST  TRIBES  133 

maneser  and  Sargon  completed  the  depopulation  of  the 
whole  land  of  Israel,  and  the  people  of  the  kingdom 
were  transplanted  to  the  northern  provinces  of  the  As- 
syrian empire,  where  their  idolatrous  habits,  says  the 
authorities,  made  them  likely  to  lose  their  nationality, 
and  to  soon  disappear  among  their  neighbors,  "though 
scattered  remnants  may  have  occasionally  emerged  at 
later  periods,  and  in  various  countries," 

A  better,  truer  view,  needs  only  to  be  glanced  at:  As 
the  physical  history  of  the  race  at  one  time  centered  in 
Noah,  so  the  spiritual  history  of  the  race  at  a  later  time 
centei'ed  in  Abraham;  and  in  a  promise  spoken  to  him 
from  the  heavens  was  embodied  the  destinies  of  the  race; 
and  in  it  was  a  forshadowing  of  all  human  history 
down  to  the  end  of  time.  We  have  seen  in  the  geolog- 
ical record  of  creation  a  wisdom  that  left  nothing  to 
accident;  that  designed  the  end  from  the  beginning. 
The  voice  to  Abraham  represented  that  same  wisdom, 
and  that  same  power  to  carry  out  his  designs.  If  the 
critical  view  of  Israelitish  history  above  sketched  were 
the  true  one,  we  might  be  content  with  the  decision 
above  quoted  of  the  probable  fate  of  the  ten  tribes, 
taken  from  the  American  Cyclopedia,  that  they  had 
mingled  with  neighboring  nations;  but  looking  back  to 
the  original  promises  and  considering  the  great  history 
remaining  to  complete  their  fulfillment,  Ave  are  im- 
pelled to  try  to  trace  the  covenant  race  through  all  its 
vicisitudes,  to  see  what  shall  befall  them  in  the  latter- 
day. 

The  two  and  a  half  tribes  were  placed  in  the  regions 
of  the  modern  Khabour,  probably  five  hundred  miles 
from  Jerusalem.  Naphtali,  Asher,  Issachar,  and  Zebu- 
Ion,  were  distributed  in  and  on  the  borders  of  Assyria, 
the  where  TiglethPileser  built  cities,  and  said:  "People, 


134  THE  WORLD-STORY 

the  conquest  of  my  hand,  in  the  midst  of  them  I  placed." 

Many  of  the  captives  were  taken  to  a  mountainous 
region  between  Assyria  and  Media.  Tobit,  author  of  a 
book  in  the  Apocrapha,  shared  the  fate  of  his  brethren 
of  the  tribe  of  Naphtali.  He  was  made  purveyor  of  the 
Kiner. 

Wilson,  in  Watchmen  of  Ephraim  says:  "The  Nineveh 
marbles  record  the  rebellion  of  a  j^eople  called  Esakska, 
who  called  themselves,  in    their  country,  'Beth    Isaac' 

In  Seed  of  Isaac,  Mr.  Granger,  whose  authority  I  am  fol- 
lowing, says  Esakska  and  Sakia  were  but  corruptions  of 
the  name  of  Isaac.  Tobit  informs  us  that  after  Sar- 
gon's  death  Media  was  in  such  a  state  of  revolt  that  he 
could  not  go  there.  It  seems  that  the  Israelites  joined 
with  the  Medes  in  a  war  with  Sennacherib,  the  success- 
or of  Sargon.  After  the  defeat  of  Sennacherib  in 
Judea,  when  the  angel  of  the  Lord  went  out  and  smote 
of  the  camp  of  the  Assyrians  an  hundred  and  four  score 
and  five  thousand,  he  returned  to  Nineveh  and  took 
revenge  upon  the  captive  Israelites;  and  Tobit  for  bury- 
ing some  of  the  corpses,  had  to  flee,  at  the  sacrifice  of 
his  possessions.  It  was  in  the  time  of  Sennacherib 
that  Josephus  says:  "The  dominion  of  the  Assyrians  was 
overthrown  by  the  Medes,"  which,  it  is  supposed,  brought 
the  Isralites  comj^arative  freedom.  Rawlinson  men- 
tions the  Gimri  as  the  same  as  the  Saka  or  Sacae, 
and  as  occurring  "on  the  Babylonian  column  of 
the  Beheston,"  and  in  other  inscriptions.  The  meaning 
of  Gimri,  in  Hebrew  and  Greek,  is  said  to  be.  The 
Tribes,  and  meant,  or  belonged  to,  Israel;  at  least, 
these  names  Avere  applied  to  a  people  in  the  region  of 
the  tribes,  within  the  first  quarter  of  a  century  after  the 
captivity. 

Rawlinson  further   says:     "The  Babylonian  title   of 


/ 


LOST  TRIBES  135 

Gimri,  applied  to  the  Sacre,  is  not  a  vernacular,  but  a 
foreign  title,  and  it  may  simply  mean  the  tribes  general- 
ly." Gimri  Sacre  is  made  to  mean  the  Tribes  of  Isaac. 
A  branch  of  the  Gimri  or  Sacre  migrated  to  a  foggy 
land  above  the  Euxine  and  were  therefore  called  Cim- 
merians (and  later,  Cimbrians),  and  were  driven  thence 
into  Thrace.  The  Cimbrians  are  next  found  in  Den- 
mark, which  was  called  the  Cimbric  Chersonese. 
Among  the  Cimbrians  were  the  Kymry.  Pezron  says: 
"These  Cimbrians,  the  offspring  of  the  Asiatic  Sacse, 
were,  without  doubt,  the  true  Celtre."  "One  division  of 
the  Celtic  people  has  always  borne  the  name.  In  all 
branches  of  the  Celtic,  the  C  or  K  was  always  inter- 
changable  with  the  G.  The  Kimry  pronounced  their 
name  Kun>ry,  Avhich  strictly  accords  with  Khumry,  the 
name  by  which  the  Assyrians  designated  the  country  of 
Samaria."    The  Welch  and  ancient  Bretons  were  Kimry. 

Our  author  next  takes  up  the  case  of  the  Danes,  and 
finds  Danaus  is  the  Irish  for  Danes.  Donians  is  the 
same  word,  and  was  applied  to  the  primitive  Scotch. 
The  Irish  Tuatha-de-Danaus  is  made  to  mean  tribe  of 
Dan.  The  Danes  were  called  Suordonians  by  Tacitus, 
and  that  is  equivilent  to  children  of  Dan.  A  part  of 
the  Suardonians  were  the  Anglo  Saxons,  who  called 
themselves  Ascae. 

Going  back  to  Habor,  Ilalah  and  the  river  Gozan, 
we  find  that  Reuben,  Gad  and  the  half  tribe  of  Manas- 
seh  were  mentioned  by  Ezra  as  living  there  still,  two 
hundred  and  ten  years  after  their  settlement  there. 
They  became  known  as  the  Massageta?,  which  is  a 
contraction  of  Manasseh  and  Gad.  In  connection  with 
the  Sacse  they  became  very  numerous  and  powerful,  and 
are  known  in  general  history  as  part  of  the  Asiatic 
Scythians.     The  Sacoe  seized  the  country  of  the  Bactri- 


136  THE  WORLD-STORY 

ans,  and  penetrated  the  confines  of  India,  and  extending 
northward,  took  possession  of  Sogdiana  "and  the  region 
of  the  laxartes;  and  from  thence  they  extended  eastward 
to  the  ocean,  calling  their  new  settlements  Sacaia.  They 
also  acquired  possession  of  the  npper  part  of  China, 
which  they  called  Cathaia.  Wanderers  passed  over  to 
the  Islands  of  Japan,  one  of  which  was  called  Sacaia. 
Later,  Massage  tag,  Sacoe,  Sacassani,  and  Dahans,  are 
mentioned  as  allies  of  Persia." 

Changing  the  scene  to  the  region  of  the  Danube, 
there  the  Getoe  are  in  possession.  There  also  dwelt  the 
Daci  who,  Justin  says,  were  descendants  of  the  Getse. 
The  Daci  are  variously  called  Dai,  Dians,  Daans  and 
and  Free  Thracians.  It  is  made  to  appear  that  the 
principal  rivers  of  Europe,  known  to  the  Greeks  by 
their  ancient  names  of  Tanais,  Boresthens,  Tyras,  and 
the  Ister,  were  subsequently  known  under  the  names  of 
Dan,  Danapris,  Danaster,  and  Danubius.  The  three  lat- 
ter are  supposed  to  be  formed  by  a  compound  of  Dan  and 
several  false  divinities,  Astarte,  Anubis,&c.  According 
to  Saxo  Grammaticus,  "Denmark  signifies  country  of 
Dan.  Dan  Avas  the  name  of  the  first  king  of  Denmark. 
The  Vetus  Chronocon  Ilolistias  says  the  Danes  and 
Jutes  are  Jews  of  the  tribe  of  Dan." 

The  Saxons  came  into  Europe  from  the  neighborhood 
of  the  Don,  north  of  the  Euxine.  By  a  passage  in  Pto- 
lemy's Geography  it  is  ascertained  "that  before  141  A. 
D.  there  Avas  a  people  called  Saxones,  who  inhabited 
the  country  on  the  north  side  of  the  Elbe."  They  first 
came  into  Europe  in  70—26  B,  C.  "Camden  wrote,  two 
Imndred  years  ago,  that  the  Saxons  are  descended  from 
the  Saci,  the  most  powerful  people  of  Asia;  that  they  are 
so  as  if  one  should  say  Sacasones,  that  is  the  sons  of  the 
Sacae."      "Some   have   thought   that   Arsareth    was   in 


LOST  TRIBES  137 

Thrace,  and  as  this  peacable  multitude  is  said  to  have 
crossed  the  narrow  passage  of  the  Euphrates  (Esdras), 
they  must  have  passed  through  the  north  of  Asia  Minor, 
and  Phrygia,  and  thence  into  Thrace." 

Volumes  have  been  written  to  prove  that  the  Saxons 
are  Israelites.  What  is  written  above  shows  the  lines 
of  proof  relied  upon.  Many  Israelites  may  have  gone 
with  the  early  colonists  to  Europe,  but  there  is  a  philo- 
logical difficulty  in  the  way  of  believing  that  whole 
tribes  of  them  migrated  there  together.  Languages 
are  not  so  easily  stamped  out;  and  the  languages  of  Eu- 
rope are  Aryan. 

Dr.  Edrehi  in  a  history  of  the  Ten  Tribes,  says: 

"The  learned  Pistol  is  firmly  persuaded  that  that  the  Ten 
Tribes  passed  into  Tartary.  He  quotes  the  authority  of  several 
Armenian  historians.  Orteleus,  that  great  geographer,  giving 
the  description  of  Tartary,  notices  the  kingdom  of  Asareth, 
where  the  Ten  Ti-ibes,  retiring,  succeeded  the  Scythian  inhab- 
itants, and  took  the  name  of  Gauther,  because  they  were  very 
jealous  for  the  glory  of  God.  In  another  place  he  found  the 
Napthalites,  who  had  their  hordes  there.  He  also  discovered 
the  tribe  of  Dan,  in  the  north,  which  has  preserved  its 
name.  There  is  another  kingdom,  called  by  the  Jews,  Thaber. 
The  Jews  have  still  kept  up  their  residence  there,  though  they 
have  lost  part  of  their  sacred  writings  and  books.  The  country 
has  received  its  name  from  them,  for  it  is  in  the  middle  of  Tar- 
tary, and  is  called  Thabor,  from  the  Hebrew,  which  signifies 
navel.  .  .  The  very  name  of  Tartars,  which  sigifies 'remains,' 
perfectly  agrees  with  the  tribes  dispersed  in  the  north,  which 
were  the  remains  of  ancient  Israel.  .  .  They  found  amongst 
them  the  footsteps  of  ancient  Judaism;  for  instance  the  circum- 
cision of  children." 

J.  Crosset,  Moravian  Missionary  to  Asia,  says: 

"In  January  1879  it  was  revealed  to  me  that  the  Mongolians 
are  of  the  Tribes  of  Israel.  This  great  nation,  which  in  the 
days  of  Ghengis  Khan  concjuered  Asia,  has  been  dwindling  into 
a  mere  remnant.    Their  tradition   is  that  they  came  from  the 


138  THE  WORLD-STORY 

west  of  Thibet,  somewhere,  and  that  after  their  undergoing 
still  greater  chastisements  than  they  have  yet  received,  even 
when  their  numbers  will  be  reduced  to  a  few,  comparatively, 
they  are  to  be  led  back  to  the  land  of  their  fathers.  .-  .  . 
They  expect  a  Savior  from  heaven  to  appear  and  bring  them 
back  to  the  land  of  their  fathers." 

May  be  there  was  more  in  the  pretensions  of  Attilla 
than  has  been  recognized:  he  said  he  was  nurtured  at  En- 
gaddi,  that  his  sword  had  fallen  from  heaven,  and  that 
he  was  the  Scourge  of  God. 

Under  date  of  March  9th,    1887,  Mr.  Crosset  writes: 

"I  believe  that  all  the  Tartar  tribes,  like  the  former  Americans, 
are  of  the  children  of  Israel.  The  Mongols  and  Tibetans  have 
a  peculiar  interest  to  me  because  of  this  belief." 

Mr.  Crosset  has  information  that  several  sects  in  In- 
dia, as  the  Kabeerees  and  Seekhs,  have  "the  clearest 
traces  of  Christianity"  in  their  creeds, 

Around  Lake  Urumiah  in  northern  Persia,  is  a  very 
numerous  body  of  people  W'ho  claim  to  be  Israelites. 
The  right  place  to  expect  to  find  remnants  of  Israel  is 
near  where  they  were  last  known  to  be. 

The   Afghans    claim   to    be    descendants     of     Saul, 
king  of  Israel;  and  they  perpetuate  many  Hebrew  names. 

"The  Russian  traveler  and  journalist,  W.  J.  Remero- 
wicli  Dantschcriko,  has  just  published,  in  a  very  inter- 
esting work  entitled  'Wogin  Stwvjusci  Israil,'  the  re- 
sults of  his  recent  travels  in  the  Caucasus.  He  has 
discovered,  on  the  highlands  of  Daghesten,  a  ti'ibe 
which  has  been  settled  there  for  thousands  of  years; 
and,  although  they  are  of  warlike  temperament  and 
closely  resemble  the  Cossacks  in  appearance,  there  is 
no  doubt  at  all  that  they  are  real  Jews,  for  they  strictly 
follow  the  Mosaic  law  in  the  Biblical  interpretation  of 
it.  It  is  strange  that  this  people  has  hitherto  escaped 
the  notice  of  ethnographers,  for  they    themselves  affirm 


LOST  TRIBES  139 

that  they  have  lived  in  the  same  spot  since  the  days  of 
Salmonassar.  They  are  ignorant  of  Talmudic  litera- 
ture, and  of  the  building  of  the  second  temple,  and  they 
retain  the  old  Jewish  names  in  use  in  the  days  of  the 
wanderings  and  of  the  first  kings.  They  manufacture 
largely  a  red  wine,  which  is  said  to  be  the  best  in  the 
Caucassus,  and  they  adhere  strictly  to  the  law  that  a 
man  must  marry  his  deceased  brother's  wife." 

The  Beni-Israel  are  a  "remarkable  race,  in  the  Avest 
of  India,  who  practice  a  mixture  of  Jewish  and  Hindoo 
Customs.     Their  ancestors,  they  say,  came  to  the  coasts 
of  India  from  a  country  to  the  northward  about  sixteen 
hundred  years  ago.      Fourteen  escaped  shipwreck  and 
found   refuge   at   Xavagaum.     There  and  at  Bombay, 
where  they  have  located  since  it  came  into  possession  of 
the   English,    their   decendants    are   still  to   be  found. 
Their  number  is  estimated  at  8,000.     They  resemble  in 
countenance  the  Arabian  Jews,     They  regard  the  name 
Jehuda,  when  applied  to  them,  as  a  term  of  reproach. 
They  ask  a  blessing  from  God,  before  and  after  meals, 
in  the  Hebrew  language     Their  Hebrew  names  are  con- 
ferred on  the  occasion  of  circumcision,  and  their  Hindoo 
names  a   month  afterward.     They  profess  to  adore  Je- 
hovah, the  God  of  Abraham,  of  Isaac,  and  of  Jacob;  but 
some    of   them  worship  the  gods  of  the   Hindoos.      In 
their  synagogues  there  is  Sepher  Torah,  or  the  manuscript 
of  the  law,  as  the  Jews   have.      They  admit  however 
the  authority  of  all  the  books  of  the  Old  Testament. 
It  is  only  lately    that  they  have  become  familiar  with 
the  majority  of  the  names  of  the  inspired  writers;    and 
it  was  not  without  hesitation   that  they  consented  to 
acknowledge  the  later   prophets.       The  five  books  of 
Moses  form  their  standard  of  religious  law.     The  divine 
statutes,  however,  are  but  partially  regarded.      At  the 


140  THE  WORLD-STORY 

time  of  the  circumcising,  the  Kazi  invokes  the  prophet 
Elijah  and  the  expected  Messiah.  They  reckon  their 
days  from  sunset  to  sunset,  and  call  their  months  by 
Hebrew  names.  They  have  the  name  Reuben  among 
them,  but  not  Judah  or  Esther." 

Coming  to  the  dispersion  of  the  inhabitants  of  Judea, 
Zedekiah,  the  last  ruler  of  the  house  of  David,  revolted 
against  Nebuchadnezzar,  contrary  to  the  dissuasion  of 
Jeremiah.  Jerusalem  was  taken,  the  temple  destroyed, 
the  king's  sons  were  slain,  the  king's  eyes  put  out, 
and  he  and  the  principal  citizens  taken  to  Babylon. 
Many  fled  to  Egypt.  Some  it  seems  went  to  India  and 
still  remain  there.  They  were  visited  in  1807  by  Dr. 
Buchanan,  who  received  from  them  the  following: 

"After  the  second  temple  was  destroyed,  (which  may  God 
speedily  rebuild),  our  fathers,  dreading  the  conqueror's  wrath, 
departed  from  Jerusalem — a  numerous  body  of  men,  women, 
Priests  and  Levites — and  came  into  this  land.  There  were 
among  them  many  men  of  repute  for  learning  and  wisdom ; 
and  God  gave  the  people  favor  in  the  sight  of  the  king  who  at 
that  time  reigned  here,  and  he  granted  them  a  place  to  dwell  in, 
called  Cranganor.  {^.  n.  490).  .  .  .  The  royal  grant  was  en- 
graved, according  to  the  custom  of  those  days,  on  a  plate  of 
brass.  This  plate  we  still  have  in  our  possession.  Our  fathers 
continued  at  Cranganor  for  about  one  thousand  years,  and  the 
number  of  heads  who  governed  us  was  seventy-two.  Soon  after 
our  settlement  other  Jews  followed  from  Judea ;  and  among 
them  came  that  man  of  great  wisdom.  Rabbi  Samuel,  a  Levite 
of  Jerusalem,  with  his  son.  Rabbi  Jehuda  Levita.  They  brought 
with  them  silver  trumpets,  made  use  of  at  the  time  of  the  Jubi- 
lee, which  were  saved  when  the  second  temple  was  destroyed. 
There  joined  us  also,  from  Spain  and  other  places,  from  time  to 
time,  certain  tribes  of  Jews,  who  had  heard  of  our  prosperity. 
But  at  last,  discord  arising  amongst  ourselves,  one  of  our  chiefs 
called  to  his  assistance  an  Indian  king,  who  came  upon  us  with 
a  great  army,  destroyed  our  houses,  palaces  and  strongholds, 
dispossessed  us  of  Cranganor,  killed  part  of  us,  and  carried  part 


LOST  TRIBES  141 

into  captivity.  By  these  massacres  we  were  reduced  to  a  small 
number.  Some  of  the  exiles  came  and  dwelt  at  Cochin,  where 
we  have  remained  ever  since,  suffering  great  changes  from  time 
to  time.  There  are  amongst  us  some  of  the  children  of  Israel, 
(Beni  Israel),  who  came  from  the  country  Ashkenaz,  from 
Egypt,  from  Tsoha  and  other  places,  besides  those  who  former- 
ly inhabited  the  country." 

The  Boras  are  a  remarkable  race  found  in  all  the 
larger  towns  in  the  province  of  Guyerat,  in  Hindustan, 
who,  though  Mohammedans,  are  Jews  in  features,  genius 
and  manners. 

"The  Aby^siniaus  explain  their  adherence  to  so  many 
Jewish  customs  by  alleging  their  descent  from  the  race  ' 
of  Jewish  kings.  The  whole,  indeed,  of  their  sacred 
ritual,  as  well  as  civil  customs,  is  a  strange  combination 
of  Jewish,  Christian  and  Pagan  traditions.  They 
expect  the  Messiah,  and  pray  to  the  angels  for  his 
coming.  They  live  in  the  most  ascetic  manner,  fast- 
ing five  times  every  week,  sleeping  only  upon  wooden 
benches,  and  scourging  themselves  with  thorns.  They 
join  outwardly  in  all  Christian  exercises,  but  are  regard- 
ed by  all  the  people  as  Jews  and  sorcerers." 

"One  of  the  strangest  peoples  with  whom  missionary 
enterprises  have  to  do,  are  the  Falashes  of  Ethopia.  They 
are  black  Jews,  about  two  hundred  thousand  in  number,* 
who  have  as  their  holy  writings  the  Old  Testament  in 
an  Ethiopian  version,  and  who  still  rigidly  adhere  to  the 
Mosaic  ceremonies  and  laws.  Undoubtedly  they  are 
not  of  pure  Jewish  descent,  although  to  some  extent 
they  are  the  children  of  Jewish  immigrants  who,  in  the 
time  of  the  great  dispersion,  settled  in  Abyssinia  and 
married  wives  of  that  nation — something  not  strange, 
as  the  Ethiopians  are  Semitic  in  nationality  and  lan- 
guage." 

Lockwood,    of   the    Greely   expedition,    planted  the 


142  THE  WORLD-STORY 

United  States  flag  at  83  degrees  and  2  4  minutes  north. 
Cape  Robert  Lincoln,  the  supposed  northern  limit  of 
Greenland,  was  sighted  in  83  degrees,  35  minutes.  No 
land  was  seen  north  of  that;  the  rough  frozen  ocean  ex- 
tending out  from  thirty  to  sixty  miles  to  the  horizon. 
Animal  life  was  abundant  at  the  highest  point  reached. 
Traces  of  hares,  lemmings,  ptarmigan,  snow-buntings, 
bears  and  musk-oxen  jvere  seen  twenty  miles  above 
Cape  Britain,  the  highest  point  reached  by  Nares'  ex- 
pedition. A  hundred  musk-oxen  were  seen  by  Lock- 
wood's  party  between  the  camp  at  Lady  Franklin's  Bay 
and  the  highest  point  attained  to.  During  the  two  sea- 
sons passed  at  Lady  Franklin's  Bay,  Greeley's  party 
killed  hundreds  of  animals.  The  musk-oxen  do  not  mi- 
grate; they  feed  through  the  winter  on  saxifrage  and  the 
short  grass  which  they  uncover  with  their  feet.  In  the  in- 
terior of  Grinnel  Land,  Greeley  saw  open  rivers  and  partly 
open  lakes.  This  region  was  called  the  Arctic  Paradise. 
Here  were  seen  the  winter  quarters  of  Esqiumaux  who  had 
dogs  with  them,  and  iron.  Two  years  passed  at  Lady 
Fi'anklin's  Bay  without  a  death,  or  much  suffering;  it 
was  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  farther  south  that  so 
many  of  them  perished. 

"The  fact  that  two  of  the  Greeley  sledge  parties 
were  stopped  by  open  water  in  the  polar  basin,  and  that 
both  were  at  times  adrift  in  strong  currents  which 
threatened  to  carry  them  helplessly  away  northward, 
would  seem  to  show  that  the  polar  basin  is  not  the  solid 
sea  of  ancient,  immovable  ice  which  Nares  described, 
and  which  he  declared  was  never  navigable." 

Greely  says  that  when  the  tide  was  flowing  from  the 
North  Pole  it  was  found  by  his  observations  "that  the 
water  was  warmer  than  when  flowing  in  the  opposite  di- 
rection." It  is  evident  that  there  is  a  funnel-shaped  basin 


LOST  TRIBES.  143 

there,  which  is  warm  ami  habitable;  but  it  is  limited — not 
more  than  seven  or  eight  hundred  miles  in  diameter.  Any 
southern  race  going  in  there  have-first  to  adopt  Esquimaux 
habits  before  getting  there,  and  that  would  involve  the 
loss  of  civilization.  If  there  are  people  in  there  they 
are  Esquimaux. 


CHATER  XIV. 

ABRAHAMID^    IX    PERU. 

As  is  generally  known,  and  already  noticed,  ancient 
Jewish  history  differs  from  all  other  history,  in  that  it 
contains  prophetic  and  miraculous  elements.  These  el- 
ements are  correlated  and  are  so  interlocked  that  each 
proves  the  other  true.  This  is  a  fact  of  demonstration, 
and  not  a  figment  of  the  imagination  nor  a  matter  of 
faith.  As  a  mere  matter  of  losfical  demonstration  it 
may  be  set  down:  That  prophecies,  reaching  down 
through  all  time  can  be  proven  true,  and  miracles,  as 
being  less  wonderful  than  their  associate  prophecies, 
should  not  be  rejected  because  they  are  wonderful;  and, 
when  miraulous  history  occurs  in  fulfillment  of  prophe- 
cy, it  j^roves  the  prophecy  and  itself  to  be  from  the  same 
source,  and  that  the  wisdom  that  dictates  prophecies 
controls  the  moral  and  physical  forces  that  fulfills  them; 
and  the  power  that  fulfills  prophecies  is  the  controlling 
power  of  nature;  the  intelligence  that  attends  and  con- 
trols the  forces  of  nature  is  the  Universal  Intelligence, 
the  Infinite  Wisdom;  and,  furthermore,  that  infinite  wis- 
dom and  power  have  been  manifested  through  angelic 
and  human  agencies.  Thus  was  the  scheme  of  redemp- 
tion inaugurated,  and  thus  must  it  be  carried  on  and 
continued.  Some  of  the  chief  historians  have  been  sj^ir- 
itual  monstrosities,  but  are  not  likely  to  have  successors. 
All  history  has  to  be  re-written  in  the  light  of  true  science. 
Science  must  be  revolutionized  in   the    light   of   faith. 


ABRHAMID.E  IN  PERU  14o 

Tlieology  must  be  reconstructed  in  accordance  Avith  dis- 
covery.    After  all  this,  Avill  philosophy  appear. 

The  bargain  with  Abraham  included  a  promise  to 
him  of  numberless  posterity.  A  spiritual  blessedness 
through  Judah  will  not  meet  the  requirements  of  this 
bargain.  We  can  not  look  to  Judah  alone  for  a  fulfill- 
ment of  it,  for  we  have  already  found  other  representa- 
tives; yet  all  the  scattered  and  battered  remnants  of  Eu- 
rojie,  Asia  and  Africa,  together  with  the  Jews  and  all 
that  have  fallen,  will  not  comjiare  with  the  stars  for 
multitude.  This  is  a  reason  for  continuing  the  search. 
In  America  are  and  have  been  millions  of  unclaimed 
children  of  some  one  or  more  of  the  patriarchal  ances- 
tors. We  have  traced  all  other  civilized  nations,  tribes 
and  peoples  back  to  their  beginning;  it  is  but  carrying  out 
the  main  idea  of  the  book,  in  searching  into  the  paterni- 
ty of  the  mulitudinous  nations  of  America.  The  search 
was  preceded  by  a  preliminary  investigation  of  all  the 
principles  involved.  Each  chapter  has  been  a  search, 
and  the  search  for  ancestors  has  been  protracted  and  has 
increased  in  interest,  and  we  come  now  to  its  last  stage. 
American  history  reaches  back  through  unknown  ages. 
The  problem  of  American  origins  is  very  difficult.  It  is  the 
world's  problem,  and  all  the  world  are  working  at  it  and 
are  agreed  upon  only  one  point,  i.  e.,  scorn  of  the  Sem- 
itic theorj'. 

It  has  not  been  Ioulj  since  <];eoloGfists  tauo-ht  that 
every  district  of  country  on  the  globe  had  a  special  flora 
and  fauna,  adapted  to  the  physical  conditions  of  that 
locality.  Agazzis  elaborated  the  theorj^  at  greater  Icngtii 
than  otliers,  and  appropriated  it.  lie  furnislied  a  map 
for  "Types  of  Mankind,"  dividing  the  earth  into  many 
districts,  separated  by  mountain  chains,  seas,  degrees  of 
altitude,  parallels  of  latitude,  areas  of  barrenness  and  of 


146  THE  WORLD-STORY 

humidity,  etc.;  and  within  these  "habitats"  were  pictured 
the  men  and  animals  made  for  them.  He  found  something 
in  the  conditions  of  the  high  table-lands  of  Mongolia 
and  Tartary  to  correspond  with  the  yellow  races  inhab- 
iting them.  The  low  plains  and  islands  of  the  torrid 
zone  accounted  for  the  brown  races,  The  Caucasus 
sent  out  white  races  by  a  law  that  nobody  questioned. 
Coming  to  America  he  showed  a  land  of  many  zones 
and  very  diverse  altitudes;  and  he  made  many  separate 
districts,  filled  with  animals  seen  noAvhere  else,  but, 
strange  to  say,  had  only  one  kind  of  men  (Esquimaux 
excepted)  for  all  these  differently  conditioned  districts. 
The  leading  antiquarian  journal  takes  up  the  subject  of 
the  "correspondence  between  the  status  and  social  con- 
dition of  the  American  tribes,  and  their  physical  sur- 
roundings," and  finds  the  country  "too  continuous  for 
the  geographical  features  to  impress  themselves  upon 
the  race."  This  decision  is  better  than  silence  upon  a  case 
that  has  been  demanding  explanation  so  long;  but  "con- 
tinuous" will  only  apply  to  this  country  in  one  direc- 
tion, and  a  cross-section  would  not  have  that  character. 
All  this  means  that  the  American  races  violate  the  rules 
of  science  in  persisting  in  being,  under  whatever  condi- 
tions found,  simply,  Indians;  and,  furthermore,  that  they 
are  proper  subjects  for  speculating  about.  The  authori- 
ties deride  speculation  and  theorizing,  but  the  greatest 
discoveries  have  been  made  by  comparing  and  testing 
theories. 

The  Beni  Israel  of  India  reached  that  land  by  sea. 
They  were  sailing  and  were  wrecked.  Where  they 
were  were  sailing  to  does  not  appear;  they  may  have 
been  on  their  way  to  America;  or,  if  they  had  not  been 
wrecked  on  the  Malabar  coast,  they  might  have  been 
Vr'recked   and   driven  to  America      The  Israelites   had 


ABARAMID.E  IN  PP:RT'  1-17 

prophets  with  them  up  to  the  time  of  their  removal,  and 
couki  have  been  intelligently  led  to  the  isles  of  the  sea, 
or  to  the  utmost  bounds  of  the  everlasting  hills.  Even 
the  heathen  had  prophets  and  inspired  leaders;  Socrates 
heard  and  obeyed  voices.  Medieval  time  produced  the 
heroine  of  all  the  ages,  and  her  guidance  was  by  audible 
and  infallible  voices.  But  this  history  has  got  down 
to  an  era  in  which  the  supposition  of  miracles  is  not  so 
necessar}'  a  resort.  If  in  geological  history  there  was  a 
period  of  miraculous  creation,  succeeded  by  a  reign  of  laAV, 
so  human  annals,  beginning  in  an  age  of  miraculous  in- 
terference and  suprintendency,  pass  on  to  a  seeming 
reign  of  law;  as  if,  infant  man  having  got  upon  his  feet, 
the  parental  hand  might  be  withdrawn.  Furthermore, 
the  inventive  faculties  have  been  educated.  At  a  some- 
what later  era,  were  ships  with  sails,  and  plated  with 
lead;  and  hundreds  of  ships  engaged  in  battle  together. 
Ilanno  sailed  past  the  pillars  of  Hercules  with  sixty 
ships  and  thirty  thousand  men.  Plato,  four  hundred 
years  before  our  era,  knew  that  the  earth  revolves 
on  its  axis.  He  says:  "The  earth  circling  around  the 
pole  (which  is  extended  through  the  universe)  he  made 
to  be  the  artificer  of  day  and  night."  Two  thousand 
and  seven  hundred  years  before  our  era  the  Chinese 
made  use  of  the  magnetic  needle.  Plato  had  knowledge 
of  America.  He  says:  "From  the  islands  you  might  pass 
through  the  whole  of  the  opposite  continent  which  sur- 
rounded the  true  ocean."  At  first  the  needle  Avas  float- 
ed in  a  cup  of  water,  and  so  the  compass  was  called  Her- 
cules' cup;  and  when  Hercules  sailed  to  the  fabulous  is- 
lands in  the  far  west,  he  took  the  cup  with  liiui,  ami 
was  "accustomed  to  sailing  in  the  night." 

Items  of  history  that  science  is  bound  to  take  cogni- 
zance of  are,  that   there  were  two   distinct  elements    in 


148  THE  WORLD-STORY 

the  cliai-ter  given  to  Abraham;  and  that  this  blessing  in 
its  compound  form  was  held  and  transmitted  by  Isaac; 
but  Jacob  transferred  it  in  severalty,  so  to  speak,  confer- 
ring on  his  favorite  son  prevailing  promises,  and  mak- 
ing him  the  chief  progenitor.  Sight  of  this  landmark 
is  essential  to  our  search.  Argument  would  show  that 
the  search  for  Abraham's  posterity  is  a  search  for  Jo- 
seph's over-running  and  multitudinous  host. 

The  Hebrews  were  dark  complexioned.  Joseph  mar- 
ried an  Egyptian;  and  his  two  sons  married  Egyptians. 
We  may  suppose  that  later  descendants,  being  more 
Egyptian  than  Israelitish,  continued  to  mate  with  the 
aristocratic  maidens  of  the  Nile.  This  would  make 
them  dark  enough  to  meet  requirements,  but  in  later 
years  they  shared  the  common  lot,  and  their  Egyptian 
blood  Avas  manifested  chiefly  in  their  proclivities  to 
Egyptian  worship.  They  led  off  in  this  idolatry  under 
Jeroboam,  and  were  steeped  in  it  to  the  last.  This  pre- 
liminary provides  for  the  numerous  Egyptian  charcteris- 
tics  of  the  Ancient  American  civilization.  To  meet  the 
question  of  complexion,  and  to  account  for  traces  of 
Arabic  speech  that  will  come  under  notice,  it  is  necessary 
to  add  to  our  Israelitish  colony  a  Bedouin  element. 

Traditions  say  that  the  colonists  came  to  America  from 
the  west  in  ships.  Bourbourg  places  Tula  on  the  other 
side  of  the  sea,  and  asserts  that  "it  was  the  region  from 
which  the  wanderers  came  from  time  to  time  to  the 
northwest  coast  of  America,  and  thence  southward  to 
Anahuac  and  Central  America."  That  Tula  was  Jeru- 
salem is  supported  by  many  considerations.  The  tradi- 
tions speak  of  a  place  beyond  the  sea,  Avhere  there  was 
a  great  temple.  The  Quiches  lived  at  Tula.  "But 
they  determined  to  abandon,  or  were  driven  from  Tulan, 
and  after  a  tedious  journey,  including  apparently,  a  cross- 


ABRAHAMID^  IN  PERU  149 

iiig  of  the  the  sea,  they  reached  Mt  Hacavitz."  The 
Cakchiquel  traditions  say:  "There  is  another  Tulan  in 
Xibalbay  and  another  where  the  sun  sets,  and  it  is  there 
that  we  came:  and  in  the  direction  of  the  setting  sun 
there  is  another  where  is  the  god:  so  that  there  are  four 
Tulans;  and  it  is  where  the  sun  sets  that  we  came  to  Tu- 
lan, from  the  other  side  of  the  sea  where  this  Tulan  is, 
and  it  is  there  that  we  were  conceived  and  begotten." 
Zamna  came  from  the  west.  The  Chilians  say  their  an- 
cestors came  from  the  west.  "According  to  old  tradi- 
tions of  both  Mexico  and  Peru  the  Pacific  coast  in  both 
countries  was  anciently  visited  by  a  foreign  people  who 
came  in  ships."  "Here,"  says  Mr.  Baldwin,  in  Peru, 
"as  in  Mexico  and  in  Central  America,  there 
was  in  the  traditions  frequent  mentionof  strangers 
or  foreigners  who  came  by  sea  to  the  Pacific  coast, 
and  held  intercourse  with  the  people;  but  this 
was  in  the  time  of  the  old  kingdom."  "Peruvian  le- 
gends speak  of  a  race  of  giants  who  came  by  sea,  waged 
war  with  the  natives,  and  erected  splendid  edifices,  the 
ruins  of  many  of  which  still  remain.  Besides  these, 
there  are  numerous  vague  traditions  of  settlements  or 
nations  of  white  men  who  lived  apart  from  other  peo- 
ple of  the  country,  and  were  possessed  of  an  advanced 
civilization." 

Legends  of  the  flood  and  dispersion  are  common  to  all 
the  American  races,  and  the  Peruvians  had  their  pro- 
portion of  them.  "One  of  them  relates  that  the  whole 
face  of  the  earth  was  changed  by  a  great  deluge,  attend- 
ed by  a  great  eclipse  of  the  sun  which  lasted  five  days. 
All  living  things  were  destroyed  except  one  man,  a  shep- 
herd with  his  family  and  flocks.  .  .  Ilerrera  gives  a 
native  tradition  which  relates  that  long  before  the  time 
of  the  Incas  there  was  a    great  deluge  from  which  some 


150  THE  WOKLD-STORY 

of  the  natives  escaped  by  fleeing  to  the  mountain  tops." 
By  the  ruins  and  traditions,  it  appears  that  tlie 
Olmecs,  Toltecs,  Aztecs,  et  al,  can  be  traced  though 
Central  America  to  Peru.  For  this  ancient  people 
there  is.no  name. 

Montesinos,  the  historian  of  Peru,  makes  Cuzco  Valley 
the  place  first  settled,  but  as  Ayucucho  is  nearer  the 
sea,  and  the  two  points  not  far  apart,  we  may  suppose 
Cuzco  Valley  was  settled  by  a  part  of  the  same  people 
who  had  begun  the  building  of  Ayucucho.  Montesinos 
wrote  about  a  hundred  years  after  the  conquest.  He 
was  a  man  of  superior  qualifications  for  his  task,  and 
spent  fifteen  years  in  studying  and  investigating.  He 
lived  among  the  natives,  conversing  with  them  in  their 
own  language,  and  learned  from  the  old  men  things 
they  had  learned  from  the  amantas,  and  from  those  who 
could  read  the  quippus.  The  quippus  was  a  system  of 
colored  and  knotted  cords,  and  was  a  complete  substi- 
tute for  writing.  The  amantas  weie  a  perpetual  order 
of  picked  and  trained  men,  who,  by  aid  of  the  quippus, 
and  by  special  cultivation  of  their  memories,  were  able 
to  do  what  other  people  of  the  same  or  less  degree  of 
civilization  do  by  the  less  intricate  device  of  writing. 
There  is  no  intimation  that  there  ever  was  a  time  of 
barbarism  in  Peru,  and  it  is  therefore  probable  there 
never  was;  and  probable  that  accurate  knowledge  of  the 
earliest  period  was  transmitted  to  the  time  of  the  old 
men  with  whom  Montesinos  associated.  (Much  of 
the  early  poetry  and  history  of  Greece,  Wales,  India 
and  Scandanavia,  was  perpetuated  for  centuries  without 
the  aid  of  writing).  "No  one  equalled"  Montesinos 
"in  archaeological  knowledge  of  Peru."  "He  became 
acquainted  with  original  instruments,  which  he  occa- 
sionally transferred  to  his  own  columns,   and   which   it 


abraiia:mid,e  in  peru  loi 

would  now  be  difficult  to  meet  elsewhere."     He  divides 
Peruvian  history  into  three  periods.     The  first  reaches 
down  to  the  second  century  of  our  era,   and   includes  a 
list  of  sixty-four  sovereigns,  the  first  of  whom  was  Pahua 
Manco,  or  Ayas-Ucha-Topa,  the  youngest  of  four  brothers 
who  led  the  settlers  to  the  valley  of  Cuzco.     The  second 
king  was  called   Manco  Capac,  who  is  described  as  a 
warrior  and  conqueror.     The  third  was  Huainaevi-Pis- 
hua,  and  during;  his  reifjrn  Avas  known  the  use  of  letters, 
and  the  amantas  taught  astrology  and  the  art  of  writing 
on  the  leaves  of  the  plantain  tree.     Another  king  won 
victories  and  adorned  and  fortified  Cuzco.     Still  another 
king  divided   the  country  into  districts,   perfected  the 
civil   administration   and  instituted  the  year  of  three 
hundred  and  sixty-five  days.     The  sixth  king,   Manco- 
Capac  II,  "made  the  great  roads  leading  from  Cazco  to 
the  provinces."     A   great  plague  is  mentioned.      The 
twentieth  ruler  "gave  all  the  provinces  new  governors 
of  royal  blood,  and  introduced  into  the  army  a  cuirass 
made  of  cotton  and  copper."     The  twenty-first  sover- 
eign, being  devoted  to  astronomy,  convened  a  scientific 
council,   which  agreed  that  the  sun   was   at   a   greater 
distance  from  the  earth  than  the  moon,  and  that  they 
followed  different  courses.     In  the  next  twelve  reigns 
are  indications  of  a  religious  controversy.     The  thirty- 
fourth  ruler.  Ay  ay  Manco,  assembled   the   amantas   in 
Cuzco  to  reform  the  calendar,  and  it  was   decided   that 
the  year  should  be  divided  into  months  of  thirty  days, 
and  weeks  of  ten  days,  calling  the  five  days  at  the  end 
of  the  year,  a  small   week.      They    also    collected  the 
years  into  decades,  or  groups  of  tens,  and  determined 
that  each  group  of  ten  decades  should  form  a  sun.    The 
thirty-eighth  and  fifty-first   kings   were  celebrated    for 
astronomical  knowledge,  and  the  latter  intercalated  a 


152 


THE  WORLD-STORY 


year  at  the  end  of  four  centuries.  Manco  Gapac  III.  is 
supposed  to  have  reigned  at  the  time  our  era  begins,  at 
which  time  "Peru  had  reached  her  greatest  »elevation 
and  extension."  Tetu-Yupanqui-Patchacuti,  the  last 
of  the  old  line,  was  killed  in  battle  with  a  horde  Avho 
came  from  the  east  and  south-east  across  the  Andes. 
After  him  "many  ambitious  ones,  taking  advantage  of 
the  new  king's  youth,  denied  him  obedience,  drew  away 
from  him  the  people,  and  usurj^ed  the  several  provinces. 
Those  who  remained  faithful  to  the  heir  of  Tetu-Yupan- 
qui  conducted  him  to  Tambotoco,  whose  inhabitants 
offered  him  obedience."  From  this  event  it  happened 
that  this  monarch  took  the  title  of  king  of 
Tambotoco.  Twenty-six  reigns  were  confined  to 
this  little  state.  The  rest  of  the  country  was  overrun 
"by  many  simultaneous  tyrants,"  and  "all  was  found  in 
great  confusion;  life  and  personal  safety  were  endanger- 
ed, and  civil  disturbances  caused  the  entire  loss  of  the 
use  of  letters." 

"The  art  of  writing  seems  to  have  been  mixed  up 
with  a  religious  controversy,"  in  the  time  of  the  old  em- 
pire, says  tiie  historian;  and  it  was  proscribed  now 
in  the  little  state  of  Tambotoco;  for  we  read  that 
the  fourteenth  of  its  twenty-six  rulers  "prohibited  un- 
der the  severest  penalties,  the  use  of  quelca  in  writing, 
and  forbade  also  the  invention  of  letters.  Quelca  was 
a  kind  of  parchment  made  of  plantain  leaves."  It  is  add- 
ed that  an  amanta  M'ho  sought  to  restore  the  art  of  wri- 
ting, was  put  to  death.  This  period  of  decline,  disorder 
and  disintegration,  which  constituted  the  dark  ages  of 
Peru,  lasted  until  the  rise  of  the  modern  Incas  brought 
better  times. 

This   earlier  and  superior   age  is    I'ecognized  by    the 
standard  authors.     Prescott  says:  "There  existed  in  the 


ABRAHAINIID^  IN  PERU  153 

country  a  race  advanced  in  civilization  before  the  time 
of  the  Incas."  Rivero  says:  "Critical  examination  indi- 
cates two  .very  different  epochs  in  Peruvian  art,  at  the 
least  so  far  as  concerns  architecture;  one  before  and 
the  other  after  the  arrival  of  the  Incas."  Mr.  Baldwin 
says:  "Cuzco  of  the  Incas  appears  to  have  occupied  the 
site  of  a  ruined  city  of  the  older  period."  Cuzco  means 
a  heap,  in  the  sense  of  ruin  heap. 

It  was  in  the  early  period   that  the   great  roads  were 
constructed.     Of  them  Mr.  Baldwin  says: 

"No  ancient  people  has  left  traces  or  works  more  astonishing 
than  these,  so  vast  was  their  extent  and  so  great'  the  skill  and 
labor  required  to  construct  them.  One  of  these  roads  ran  along 
the  mountains  through  the  whole  length  of  the  empire  from 
Quito  to  ChiH.  Another,  starting  from  this  at  Cuzco,  went 
down  to  the  coa<t.  .  .  .  The  road  passing  along  the  moun- 
tain was  a  marvellous  work.  In  many  places  its  way  was  cut 
through  tlie  rock  for  leagues.  Great  ravines  were  filled  up  witlx 
solid  masonry.  Rivers  were  crossed  by  a  curious  kind  of  suspen- 
sion bridges.  .  .  It  was  quite  as  long  as  the  two  Pacific  rail- 
roads, and  its  wild  route  among  the  mountains  was  for  more 
difficult." 

It  -was  built  on  beds  of  deep  under-structure,  paved 
with  well  cut  dark  porphyritic  stone,  and  was  twenty 
feet  wide,  M'ith  a  wall  on  each  side  a  fathom  in  thick- 
ness. One  of  the  modern  Incas  repaired  these  roads, 
but  it  is  distinctly  stated  that  he  did  not  build  them,  and 
they  were  the  work  of  the  ancient  kings. 

It  is  evident  that  the  first  age  in  Peru  was  the  great- 
est of  all,  and  that  alone  overthrows  the  prevalent  theo- 
ry of  evolution  from  savagery.  It  is  also  evident  that 
the  ancient  nations  of  the  two  continents  were  alike  in 
qualities  that  make  up  full  manhood. 

On  the  islands  of  Lake  Titicaca  are  the  ruins  of  great 
palaces,  temples  and  other  edifices,  built  of  hewn  stone, 


154  THE  WORLD-STORY 

with  stone  sills  and  door  posts.     De  Leon  thus  writes: 

"At  Tiahuanco  are  stones  so  large  and  so  overgrown  that  our 
wonder  is  excited,  it  being  incomprehensible  how  the  power  of 
man  could  have  placed  them  where  we  see  them.  They 
are  variously  wrought,  and  some  of  them  having  the  form  of 
men,  must  have  been  idols,  Near  the  walls  are  many  caves 
and  excavations  under  the  earth,  but  in  another  place  further 
west,  are  other  and  greater  monuments,  such  as  large  gate-ways 
with  hinges,  platforms,  and  porches,  each  made  of  a  single 
stone.  It  surprised  me  to  see  these  enormous  gate-ways  made 
of  great  masses  of  stone,  some  of  which  were  thirty  feet  long, 
fifteen  high,  and  six  thick.  .  .  .  The  whole  neighborhood 
is  strewn  with  immense  blocks  of  stone  elaborately  wrought, 
equalling,  if  not  sui-passing  in  size,  any  known  to  exist  in  India 
or  Egypt." 

On  one  of  the  islands  of  Lake  Titicaca  is  a  palace  or 
temple,  and  "making  allowance  for  the  absence  of  pyr- 
amidal foundations,  it  has  more  resemblance  to  some 
of  the  great  constructions  in  Central  America  than  to 
anything  peculiar  to  the  later  period  of  Peruvian  archi- 
tecture." 

Mr.  Ferguson  sees  a  resemblance  "the  most 
remarkable  in  the  history  of  architecture,"  between 
the  old  Peruvian  and  old  Italian  ruins  attributed  to  the 
Pelasgians,  and  called  Cyclopian.  A  classification  of 
Peruvian  ruins  has  not  been  made,  but  it  is  known  that 
the  oldest  temples  were  not  high,  truncated  pyramids,  and 
the  great  edifices  were  not  built  upon  pyramidal  founda- 
tions. The  fortresses,  aquaducts,  roads,  and  other  struc- 
tures, were  massive,  substantial,  elegant  and  plain. 
The  monoliths  of  Copan  and  the  bass-reliefs  of  Palenque 
represent,  as  such  works  do  in  the  other  hemisphere,  ad- 
vanced paganism.  The  excellence  of  Grecian  art  was  a 
result  of  Grecian  philosophy.  The  nearer  a  nation  gets 
to  the  truth  in  religion  and  philosophy,  the  nearer  it 
gets  to  the  true  standard  in  art.  „ 


ABRAIIAMID.E  IN  PERU  loo 

The  temple  of  the  sun  at  Pachacamac,  and  El  Mirador 
at  Unanuco,  sliow  the  proclivity  of  the  sun-worshiper 
for  pyramidal  structures  and  terraced  elevations. 
They  belong  to  a  later  period  than  that  under  consider- 
ation. 

Inscriptions  are  not  numerous  in  Peru;  but  the  same 
author  who  says  there  are  none,  publishes  an  illustra- 
tion of  a  monolithic  gateway  with  four  rows  of  hiero- 
glyphics extending  across  it. 

The  valley  of  Quito  is  remarkable  as  being  next  to 
Titicaca,  the  scene  of  the  most  ancient  civilization. 
The  building  material,  used  M^as  freestone.  The  history 
of  the  city  of  Quito  goes  back  to  a  remote  antiquity.  In 
A.  D.  280,  this  city  was  captured  by  invaders  Avho  un- 
der the  name  of  Siris  maintained  their  dominion  until 
the  invasion  .of  the  Inca,  Huana-Capac.  Ancient  ruins 
are  found  in  Columbia.  Barney,  in  Antiquarian  oi  1884, 
describes  a  finely  wrought  stone  pyramid.  The  pres- 
ence of  golden  frogs  in  it  consigns  it  to  later  times. 

The  State  of  Panama  has  not  been  credited  with  any 
ancient  remains,  but  the  papers  report  a  skeleton  in  mail, 
and  wearing  a  golden  crown.  The  attainments  of  the  an- 
cients in  astronomy  are  unaccountable  without  suppos- 
ing they  had  some  artificial  aids  to  vision.  A  discovery 
made  a  few  years  since  by  David  Forbes  makes  it  almost 
certain  that  the  South  Americans  of  antiquity  had  tele- 
scopes. The  object  was  found  in  an  ancient  tomb  near 
Corocoro,  Bolivia,  and  "is  a  nude  figure,  of  silver,  two 
and  a  half  inches  in  hight,  on  a  flat  pointed  pedestal.  In 
the  right  hand  it  has  the  mask  of  a  human  face,  but  in 
the  left  a  tube  over  half  an  inch  in  length,  the  narrow 
part  placed  to  the  left  eye  in  a  diagonal  position,  as  if 
observing  some  celestial  object."  A  lunar  calendar, 
made  of  gold,  has  been  exhumed  within  a  few  years,  at 


156  THE  WORLD-STORY 

Cuzco.     An  ivory  crucifix  figures  among  Peruvian  relics 
as  a  genuine  antiquity,  but  of  undetermined  age. 

The  veritable  old  pharaoh  who  most  oppressed  the 
Israelites  with  hard  labor  in  brick  and  mortar,  the  great 
builder-king,  who  "walked  about — how  strange  a  story — 
Thebes'  streets  three  thousand  years  ago,"  obtrudes  up- 
on us  at  this  late  stage,  as  having  been  found.  He 
serves  to  break  the  shock  of  our  surprise  at  the  finding 
of  perfectly  preserved  specimens  of  the  ancestors  of  the 
living  and  all  but  one  of  the  dead  races  of  this  conti- 
nest;  for  the  American  Pharaohs,  like  their  prototypes 
of  Egypt,  and  after  whom  they  copied  in  many  things, 
perpetuated  the  art  of  embalming.     Mr.  Short  writes: 

"The  nearest  approach  to  the  natural  condition  and  charac- 
teristic phj^siognomy  of  the  prehistoric  inhabitants  of  this  con- 
tinent, is  observable  in  the  Peruvian  mummies  collected  in  lat- 
itude 18  degrees  30  minutes  S.,  on  the  shore  of  the  bay  of  Cha- 
cota,  near  Arica,  by  Mr.  Blake,  and  transferred  by  him  to  Boston. 
Many  otliers  have  since  been  exhumed,  and  though  embalmed 
and  buried  in  a  climate  which  preserves  the  brightest 
colors  of  the  garments  with  which  they  are  enshrouded,  still 
tlie  shriveled  condition  of  the  corpses  furnishes  us  the  assurance 
that  their  type  of  features  can  never  be  truly  recovered  from 
nature.  Dr.  Morton  has  figured  the  head  of  one  of  these  mummies 
in  Plate  1  of  Crania  !Americana,  from  which  the  physiognomy 
may  be  partially  restored  by  the  aid  of  a  vivid  imagination.  .  . 
Howevei',  one  feature  of  the  Peruvian  mummies  has  been  pre- 
served true  to  life,  and  is  of  the  greatest  value  in  determining 
ethnic  relations.  The  silicious  sand  and  marl  south  of  of  Arica, 
where  the  most  remarkable  cemeteries  are  situated,  is  slightly 
impregnated  with  common  salt  as  well  as  nitrate  and  sulphate 
of  soda.  These  conditions,  together  with  the  dry  atmosphere, 
rivahing  that  of  Egypt,  and  in  which  fleshy  matter  dries  with- 
out putrifaction,  the  human  hair  has  been  perfectly  preserved, 
and  comes  to  us  as  one  of  the  best  evidences  of  the  diversity  of 
the  American  races  yet  produced.  In  general  it  is  a  light  brown, 
and  of  a  fineness  of  texture  which  equals  that  of  the  Saxon 
race.      Straight,  coarse,  black  hair  is  universally   characteristic 


ABRAHAMID.E  IN  PERU  157 

of  the  Red  Indian,  and  is  known  to  bo  one  of  the  last  marks  of 
race  to  disappear  in  intermarriage  with  Europeans.  The 
ancient  rcruvians  apiiear,  from  numerous  examples  of  hair 
found  in  their  tombs,  to  have  been  an  auburn-haired  race. 
Garcillasso,  who  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing  the  body  of  the 
kinjr,  Viracocha,  describes  the  hair  of  that  monarch  as  snow 

white. 

"The  Peruvian  elongated  crania  are  always  found  with  large 
boned  skeletons  having  strong  hands;  while  the  short  or  round- 
ed crania  accompany  very  small  bones,  such  as  were  unable  to 
endure  labor  like  the  building  of  pyramids  and  the  erection  of 
such  edifices  as  are  found  in  Peru." 


Mr.  Jones,  in  "Antiquities  of  the  Southern  States," 
gives  an  account  of  a  young  woman  found  in  a  cave  in 
Tennessee,  avIio  was  preserved  in  a  mummified  condition, 
by  natural  salts.  He  describes  the  hair  of  the  girl  as 
being  yellowish  and  fine;  and  thinks  she  represnts  an 
ancient  race. 

The  Quichuas,  who  were  the  ruling  race  at  the  time  of 
the  conquest,  are  the  successors  of  the  light-colored, 
large  brained  race  just  described.  They  are  olive-skin- 
ned. The  Aymaras  are  also  direct  successors  of  the 
ancient  race.  They  occupy  the  mountain  lands  of  Bo- 
livia and  Peru.  Their  complexion  is  olive-brown;  their 
heads  are  large,  and  their  features  regular,  "with  a  mel- 
ancholy cast."  A  picture  of  a  Quichua  Indian  in  Mr. 
AVinchell's  finely  illustrated  M'ork,  Preadamites,  is  one 
of  the  only  two  figured  in  it  that  have  the  unmistakeable, 
Abrahamic  cast  of  countenance;  the  other  one  is  alikeness 
of  Spotted  Tail,  Brule  Chief  of  the  Sioux.  All  the  cycles 
to  come  would  not  make  a  Chinaman  of  either  one  of 
them.  The  Mongoloid  migration  theory  is  misleading. 
The  Bhering-Straits-bridge-theory  does  not  acount  for 
the  bridsre  of  the  Indian  nose. 


158  THE  WORLD-STORY 

Seiior  Lopez,  in  a  Mork  entitled  "Les  Races  Aryennes 
in  Perou,"  argues  that  the  Quichua  language,  the 
language  of  the  modern  Incas,  is  a  brancli  of  the  Aryan. 
Mr.  Lang  says  of  this  work: 

"Senor  Lopez's  views,  that  the  Peruvians  were  Aryans  who 
left  the  parent  stock  long  before  the  Teutonic  or  Helen  ic  races 
entered  Europe,  is  supported  by  arguments  drawn  from  lan- 
guage, from  the  traces  of  institutions,  from  religious  beliefs, 
from,  legendary  records,  and  artistic  remains.  The  evidence 
from  language  is  treated  scientifically,  and  not  as  a  kind  of  in- 
genious guessing.  Senor  Lopez  first  combats  the  idea  that  the 
living  dialect  of  Peru  is  barbarous  and  fluctuating.  It  is  not 
one  of  the  casual  and  shifting  forms  of  speech  produced  by  no- 
mad races.  To  which  of  the  stages  of  language  does  this  belong 
— the  agglutinative,  in  which  one  root  is  fastened  on  to  an- 
other, and  a  word  is  formed  in  which  the  constitutive  elements 
are  obviously  distinct,  or  the  inflectional  where  the  auxiliary 
roots  get  worn  down  and  are  only  distinguishable  by  the  philol- 
ogist? As  all  known  Aryan  tongues  are  inflexional,  Senor 
Lopez  may  appear  to  contradict  himself  wlieu  he  says  that 
Quichua  is  an  agglutinative  Aryan  language.  But  he  quotes 
Mr.  Max  INIuller's  opinion  that  there  must  have  been  a  time 
when  the  germs  of  Aryan  tongues  had  not  yet  reached  the  in- 
flexional stage,  and  shows  that  while  the  form  of  Quichua  is 
agglutinative,  as  in  Turanian,  the  roots  of  words  are  Aryan.  If 
this  be  so,  Quichua  may  be  a  linguistic  missing  link. 

"When  we  first  look  at  Quichua,  with  its  multitude  of  words 
Ijeginning  with  //«,  and  its  great  preponderance  of  g''^,  it  seems 
almost  as  odd  as  Mexican,  but  many  of  these  forms  are  due  to 
a  scanty  alphabet,  and  really  express  familiar  sounds;  and 
many,  again,  result  from  the  casual  spelling  of  the  Spaniards.  We 
must  now  examine  some  of  the  forms  which  Aryan  roots  are 
supposed  to  take  in  Quichua.  In  the  first  place  Quichua  ab- 
hors the  shock  of  two  consonants.  Thus,  a  word  like  fleo, 
....  in  Greek,  would  be  unpleasant  to  the  Peruvian's  ear,  and 
he  says  pill  lit.  I  sail.  The//«,  again,  \npluma,  a  feather,  is  said 
to  be  found  in  J>ill/(,  to  fly.  Quichua  has  no  »,  any  more  than 
Greek  has,  and  just  as  the  Greeks  had  to  spell  Roman  words  be- 
ginning with  V  with  Ou,  like    Valerious — OulerUis — so,   where 


abraha:^iid.e  in  pp:ru  loO 

Sanscrit  has  v,  (,>uicliua  has  ///^        Here  is  a  list  of  words  in  ////  : 

(jriCm-A.  SANSCRIT. 

Huaki,  to  call.  Vace,  to  speak. 

Hiiasi,  a  house.  Vas,  to  inhabit. 

Iluayra,  air,  aura.  Va,  to  breathe. 

.  Huasa,  the  back.  Vas,  to  be  able. 

'•There  is  a  Sanscrit  root,  A>,  to  act,  to  do;  this  root  is  found 
in  more  than  three  hundred  names  of  peoples  and  places  in 
South  America.  Thus  there  are  the  Caribs  whose  name  may  have 
the  same  origin  as  that  of  our  old  friends  the  Carians,  and 
means  the  Braves,  and  their  land  the  home  of  the  Braves,  like 
Kaleva-la,  in  Finnish.  The  same  root  gives  A'ai  a,  the  hand,  the 
Greek  A>/V,  and  kkall/,  brave,  which  a  person  of  fancy  may 
connect  with  ialos.  Again,  Quichua  has  an  'alpha-privative' — 
thus  A-siani  means  'I  change  a  thing's  place,'  for  Jii  or  mi  is  the 
first  person  singular,  and,  added  to  the  root  of  a  verb,  is  the 
sign  of  the  first  person  of  the  present  indicative.  For  instance, 
can  means  bring,  and  Ca7imi,  or  Caiii,  is,  'I  am.'  In  the  same 
way  Mananmi,  or  Mnna>n\  is,  'I  love,'  and  Afa)iim,  or  Afant,  'I 
carry.'  So  Lord  Strangford  was  wrong  when  he  supposed  that 
the  last  verb  in  mi  lived  with  the  last  patriot  of  Lithuania. 
Peru  has  stores  of  a  grammatical  form  which  has  happily  per- 
ished in  Europe.  It  is  impossible  to  do  more  than  to  refer  to 
the  supposed  Aryan  roots  contained  in  the  glossary,  but  it  may 
be  noticed  that  the  future  of  the  Quichuan  verb  is  formed  in  5 
— I  love,  Matinni,  I  shall  love,  Munasa — and  that  the  aflixes  de- 
noting cases  in  the  nouii  are  curiously  like  the  Greek  prepo- 
sitions." 

Instead  of  being  a  missing  link  in  a  in-ogressive  sc- 
ries from  the  agglutinative  to  the  inflexional  stages, 
the  Quichua  language  has  reached  its  present  (not  anom- 
alous) stage,  by  retrogression.  The  place  in  the  scale  of 
race  development  of  the  Quichuas,  themselves,  is  found 
by  the  application  of  this  same  law:  it  is  a  case  of  rever- 
sion, and  not  of  arrested  development. 

A  Yiena  paper  has  announced  on  the  authority  of  Dr. 
Falb,  that  the  Quichua  and  Armara  languages  "exhibit 
the  most  astounding  affinities  with  the  Semitic  tongue. 


im  THE  WORLD-STORY 

and  particularly  the  Arabic,"  in  which  tongue  Dr  Falb 
has  been  skilled  from  his  boyhood. 

Dr.  Falb  finds  that  the  Semitic  roots  in  these  Peruvi- 
an languages  are  "universally  Aryan,"  and  argues  from 
it  that  the  Hebrews,  and  of  course  all  the  races,  originat- 
ed in  Peru  and  Bolivia.  This  is  near  where  Columbus 
thought  Paradise  was  located,  but  further  study  of  the 
Aymara  may  result  in  a  reversal  of  the  line  of  migration. 
On  page  forty-three  of  "Preadamites,"  is  the  following: 

"From  non-biblical  sources  we  obtain  further  information 
respecting  the  early  dispersion  of  the  Japhetites  or  Indo-Euro- 
peans — called  also  Aryans.  All  the  determinations  confirm  the 
biblical  account  of  their  primitive  residence  in^the  same  country 
with  the  Hamites  and  Semites.  Rawlinson  informs  us  that 
even  Aryan  roots  are  mingled  with  fyesevntic  in  some  of  the 
oldest  inscriptions  of  Assyria." 

The  San  Francisco  Alta  in  1884  published  the  follow- 


ing: 


"Rudolf  Falb,  a  German  Professor,  recently  arrived  in 
San  Francisco,  after  spending  two  years  in  South  America, 
and  now  his  way  back  to  his  native  country,  authorizes  us  to 
announce,  &c.  ....... 

■'While  in  Bolivia  he  studied  the  Aymara  tongue,  which  was 
in  use  before  the  Spanish  conquest,  and  is  older  than  the  Quich- 
ua,  which  was  spoken  by  the  Incas  and  their  subjects  in  Peru. 
This  Aymara  language,  still  spoken  by  eight  millions  of  people 
of  the  aboriginal  blood,  bears  an  unmistakable  and  near  affinity 
to  the  Semitic  tongue,  in  which  the  radical  form  of  every  verb 
has  three  consonants.  The  Arabic  and  Hebrew  are  the  leading 
languages  of  this  class,  and  the  relationship  of  the  Aymara  to 

them  is  strong  and  unquestionable  throughout Four 

miles  south  of  Lake  Titicaca,  13,000  feet  above  the  sea,  in  Bolivia, 
is  the  ruin  of  an  Aymara  temple,  with  a  large  stone  covered 
with  carved  hieroglyphics  or  figures.  These  hieroglyphics  Prof. 
Falb  claims  to  have  interpreted,  and  he  finds  in  them  tlie 
proof  that  this  temple  was  erected  as  a  memorial  of  a  great  flood. 
One  of  its  principle  figures  contains  Masonic  signs,  which  mean 
the  light,  the  thought,  the  word,  the  beginning;  and  the  signif- 


ABRHAMID.E  IN  PERU  ICl 

ication  and  history  of  these  signs,  after  having  been  lost  for 
thousands  of  years,  are  now  again  to  be  brouglit  within  the 
general  compreliension.  Figures  used  as  religious  symbols  in 
very  remote  days,  were  preserved  long  after  some  of  their 
meanings  were  forgotten.  The  philological  world  will  look 
with  interest  for  Prof.  Falb's  revelations." 

Whether  or  not  Dr.  Falb's  work  has  been  published, 
is  not  known  to  the  the  present  writer.  Knowledge  of 
its  contents  would  add  to  the  interest  of  this  chapter, 
but  the  argument,  incomplete  as  it  is,  demands  the  at- 
tention of  thinking  men;  and,  furthermore,  traces  of 
HebrcAV  in  Peru,  means  further  developments  in  the 
same  direction,  for  the  rolling  orb  of  time  brings  one 
object  after  another  up  out  of  the  night,  till  the  whole 
of  each  succeeding  scene  is  blazoned  on  the  sky. 

Peruvian  history  can  not  be  reconstructed  on  so  small 
a  hint,  but,  recalling  the  facts  that  Montesinos  supplies, 
that  the  old  civilization  was  obliterated  by  war;  that 
relisrion  and  the  use  of  letters  were  involved  in  the  con- 
test,  and  the  restoration  of  writing  prohibited  under 
penalty  of  of  death;  and  connecting  these  facts  with  the 
one  that  traces  of  Hebew  are  found  in  the  oldest  language 
spoken  in  the  territory  where  the  history  was  enacted, 
we  dimly  but  certainly  perceive  that  Hebrew  represents 
that  old  civilization,  and  that  the  Hebrew  religion  was 
the  one  that  was  involved  in  the  controversy  and  in  the 
protracted  and  desolating  wars.  The  result  shows  the 
expulsion  or  the  destruction  of  the  cultured  people. 
Two  elements  found  remaining  where  the  strife  had 
been  were  sun  worship  and  masonry. 

It  has  not  been  proved  that  Hebrew  letters  were  ever 
in  common  use  on  this  continent,  but  it  need  not  be 
thought  impossible  that  tlic  lajjse  of  time  that  transform- 
ed a  struggling  colony  in  a  wilderness  into  hostile  na- 
tions, resulted  in  such  changes  that  the  inscriptions  on 
K 


IGi  THE  WORLD-STOKY 

the    mouuments  have   not  yet   been    deciphered.      The 
following  extracts  are  calculated   to  liberalize  thought : 

(Taylor's  Anthropology)  "The  language  of  the  ancient  Egypt- 
ians, though  it  cannot  be  classed  in  the  Semitic  family  with  He- 
brew, has  important  points  of  correspondence,  whether  due  to 
the  long  intercourse  between  the  two  races  in  Egypt,  or  to  some 
deeper  ancestral  connection;  and  such  analogies  also  appear  in 
the  Berber  languages  of  North  Africa." 

On  page  182  of  "Fundamental  Questions,"  by  E.  L. 
Clark,  is  found: 

"The  Hebrew  language,  as  a  cultivated  and  written  language, 
distinct  from  Phoenecian,  Arabic,  and  Aramtean,  the  language 
which  has  come  down  to  us  in  the  Hebrew  scriptures,  had  no 
existence  until  long  after  the  time  of  Moses.  It  did  not  exist 
in  the  days  of  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob,  whose  petty  tribe 
spoke  the  common  language  of  the  tribes  and  peoples  around 
them.  It  was  not  formed  in  Egypt,  where  the  vernacular  of 
the  Hebrews,  especially  during  their  centuries  of  bondage,  must 
have  been  the  language  of  the  Egyptians.  It  -^-as  the  slow  de- 
velopment of  Hebrew  society  after  the  settlement  of  the  Israel- 
ites in  the  promised  land.  The  inference  from  these  premises 
is  obvious.  When  Moses  led  the  Hebrews  out  of  Egypt,  the  lan- 
guage in  familiar  use  among  them,  and  in  which  they  received 
the  law,  was  not  Hebrew  but  Egyptian.  If  the  Hebrew  had 
begun  by  this  time  to  come  into  existence  as  a  form  of  speech, 
it  certainly  did  not  exist  as  a  written  language.  Egyptian,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  vernacular  of  the  Israelites  of  the  time,  had 
l»een  for  ages  a  highly  cultivated  language,  unfolding  into  an 
immense  and  exceedingly  various  body  of  literature.  Moses 
was  an  Epyptian  scholar  and  man  of  letters,  learned  in  all  the 
wisdom  of  the  Egyptians;  and  in  Egyptian,  beyond  a  doubt,  all 
his  speaking  and  all  his  writing  was  done.  It  was  long  after 
the  death  of  Moses  that  both  the  language  and  the  alphabet 
came  into  existence,  which  were  to  be  the  medii  through  which 
the  Old  Testament  Scriptures  were  to  be  given  to  mankind. 
Ai  the  present  time  all  things  point  to  the  conclusion  that  no 
beginning  had  been  made  in  writing  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  in 
the  form  in  which  they  have  come  down  to  us,  before  the  time 
of  Samuel," 


ABARAMID.E  IN  PERU  l(i3 

There  may  Lave  been  atone  time  in  Peru,  a  Hebrew- 
speaking  people  who  wrote  in  hieroglyphics;  or  there 
may  have  been,  as  hinted  in  the  history,  a  revolt  against 
the  Hebraic  culture  in  favor  of  the  Egyptian  economy, 
as  happened  repeatedly  in  Canaan.  This  latter  suppo- 
sition will  best  account  for  the  "analogical  evidence  of 
an  identity  of  the  family  of  Mexico  and  Peru  with  that 
of  Hindostan  or  Egypt,"  which  Mr.  Delafield  has  pointed 
out;  and  will  best  explain  the  passages  of  Montesinos 
already  given.  It  is  supposable  that  this  work  of  revo- 
lution was  so  protracted  that  many  new  conceptions 
were  added,  that  were  distinct  from  the  original  ideas 
that  served  as  a  beginning.  The  worship  of  Con  originat- 
ed in  Peru.  The  period  of  disorder,  "during  Avhich  the 
country  was  broken  up,"  was  repeated  in  Central  Amer 
ica.  The  civilizations  of  Copan  and  Palenque,  and  all 
that  pertains  to  them,  must  be  traced  through  Peru  to 
Egypt  and  Babel,  instead  of  directly,  as  has  been  attempt- 
ed heretofore.     Mr.  Baldwin  says: 

"I  find  nij'self  more  and  more  inclined  to  the  opinion  that  the 
uljoriginal  South  Americans  are  the  oldest  people  on  tliis  conti- 
nent; that  they  are  distinct  in  race.  .  .  .  The  Colhuans  may 
have  come  from  same  other  part  of  this  continent.  In  my 
judgment  it  is  not  improbable  that  they  came  from  South 
America.  .  .  .  The  hypothesis  of  a  migration  from  Nicara- 
gua and  Cuscutlan  to  Anahuac  is  altogether  more  consonant  with 
probabilities  and  with  tradition  than  that  which  derives  the 
^Mexicans  from  the  north 

"It  may  be  that  all  the  old  American  civilizations  had  a 
common  origin  in  South  America,  and  that  all  the  Ancient  Amer- 
icans wliose  civilizations  can  be  traced  in  remains  found  north 
of  tlie  Isthmus  came  originally  from  that  part  of  the  con- 
tinent. Tliis  liypothesis  apjKnirs  more  iiro])able  than  any  other 
tliat  I  have  heard  suggested,  but,  assuming  this  to  be  true,  tlie 
lii-st  migration  of  civilized  people  from  South  America  must 
have  taken  place  at  a  very  distant  period  in  the  past."&c. 


1G4  THE  WORLD-STORY 

Dr.  Flint,  of  Nicaragua,  communicates  to  the  Amcri- 
can  Antiquarian  his  discovery  of  evidence  of  a  great  exo- 
dus of  a  civilized  people  from  Peru  to  Central  America. 
He  finds  along  the  route  the  traces  of  two  distinct  races, 
one  of  them  barbarous: 

"All  the  old  and  new  investigaters  who  swarm  around  Pa- 
lenqne  and  its  neighboping  ruins,  if  they  confine  themselves  to 
that  limited  field,  Avill  never  arrive  at  the  true  solution  of  the 
origin  of  its  builders.  They  must  traverse  the  Cordilleras  from 
Mexico  to  Bolivia,  where  they  will  find  inscribed  on  the  eter- 
nal rocks  the  rise  and  progress  of  a  race  whose  labors  culmina- 
ted in  the  neighborhood  of  Palenque  and  Esquintlar.  The 
workmanship  seen  on  the  tablets  of  the  latter  are 
more  complicated  and  better  executed  than  those  on  the 
monoliths  of  New  York  and  London,  and,  had  an  equal 
amount  of  money  been  expended  an  American  research,  more 
astonishing  results  would  have  been  reachsd.  All  around 
Titicaca  are  found  remnants  of  a  remote  civilization.  .  .  . 
These  [tombs]  are  distinguished  with  great  facility  from  those  of 
the  Incas,  as  they  are  generally  covered;  and  wherever  encoun- 
tered in  other  places,  aside  from  the  rocks,  are  surrounded  on 
all  sides  with  stones  of  slight  depth.  Exceptions  to  this  rule 
are  seen  at  Cah,  Columbia,  where  the  depth  is  from  eight  to  elev- 
en varas,  but  there  no  stones  are  used.  In  Nyconyah,  Costa 
Rica,  the  writer  has  seen  a  similar  mode  of  burial;  also  at  Teus- 
tipe,  and  on  the  coast  of  Nicaragua,  where  sides,  bottom  and 
top,  are  covered  with  rock.  Pottery  and  aietal  ornaments  also 
occur  ,  and  now  and  then  large  urns  with  the  entire  skeleton 
in  a  sitting  posture,  probably  some  chief.  Inscriptions  on 
the  rock  at  Vilcacago,  Peru,  also  occur,  the  same  as  those 
described,  but  no  sepulchres,  but  in[a  [region  lower  down,  at 
Hachumaya,  I  encountered  tombs  in  natural  excavations  of  the 
rock,  with  bones  of  both  races.  Near  Telimbala,  on  a  small 
calcareous  sierra  filled  with  natuwil  caves  the  immense  exodus 
had  converted  them  them  into  sarcophagi." 


CIIArTER  XV. 

THE    CENTRAL    AMERICANS    OF    ANTIQUITY. 

TliPij  W'lnt  to  thfi  narrow  Central  land, 

Where  ghosts  of  ruin  hover, 
]]ncre  ancient  cities,  vast  and  grand, 

With  trees  are  noio  grown  over. 

"The  races  that  rose  to  wealth  and  power  in  Central  America 
(lid  not  succeed  some  rude  spear-maker.  The  Spaniards  con- 
quered a  people  who  had  themselves  figured  in  the  role  of  inva- 
ders."— De  Costa. 

"There  are  specimens  of  architecture  among  the  prehistoric 
works  hero,  especially  among  those  found  in  Central  America, 
which  are  certainly  quite  as  for  advanced  as  some  of  those 
found  in  Egypt,  Assyria  or  Greece." — Peet. 

"At  Kaba  the  cornice  running  over  the  door-ways,  tried  by 
the  severest  rules  of  art  recognized  among  us,  would  em])ellish 
the  architecture  of  any  known  era." — Stephens. 

"Among  the  edifices  forgotten  by  time  in  the  forests  of  Mex- 
ico and  Cental  America,  we  find  architectural  characteristics  so 
different  from  each  other,  that  it  is  as  impossible  to  attrilnite 
them  all  to  the  same  people  as  to  believe  they  were  all  built  at 
the  same  epoch." — Bourbourg. 

"It  is  a  point  of  no  little  interest  that  these  old  constructions 
belong  to  different  periods  in  the  past,  and  represent  somewhat 
different  phases  of  civilization.  Uxmal,  wliich  is  supposed-  to 
have  been  partly  inhal)ited  when  the  Spaniards  arrived  in  th« 
country,  is  plainly  much  more  modern  than  Copan  or  Palenquo. 
This  is  easily  traced  in  the  ruins.  Its  edifices  were  finished  in 
a  dilierent  style,  and  show  fewer  inscriptions.  Hound  pillars 
somewhat  in  the  Doric  style,  are  found  at  Uxmal,  Ijut  none  like 
the  square,  richly-carved  pillars,  bearing  inscriptions,  discovered 
in  some  of  the  other  ruins.    Copan  and  Palenque,  and  even  Ka- 


k 


166  THE  AVORLD-STORY 

ba,  in  Yucatan,  may  have  been  very  old  cities,  if  not  already 
old  ruins,  when  Uxmal  was  built.  Accepting  the  reports  of 
explorers  as  correct,  there  is  evidence  in  the  ruins  that  Quir- 
igua  is  older  than  Copan  and  that  Copan  is  older  than  Palenque. 
The  old  monuments  of  Yucatan  represent  several  distinct  epochs 
in  the  ancient  history  of  that  peninsula.  Some  of  them  are 
kindred  to  those  hidden  in  the  great  forest,  and  remind  us 
more  of  Palenque  than  of  Uxmal.  Among  those  described,  the 
most  modern,  or  most  of  those,  are  in  Yucatan;  they  belong  to  the 
time  when  the  empire  of  the  Mayas  flourished.  Many  of  the 
others  belong  to  ages  previous  to  the  rise  of  this  kingdom;  and  in 
ages  still  earlier,  ages  older  than  the  great  forest,  there  were  other 
cities,  doubtless,  whose  remains  have  perished,  or  were  long  ago 
removed  for  use  in  the  later  constructions. 

"The  evidence  of  repeated  reconstructions  in  some  of  the  cit- 
ies before  they  were  deserted  has  been  pointed  out  by  explor- 
ers  Copan  was  forgotten  and  mysterious 

before  the  time  of  the  conquest." — Baldwui. 

Berro  concludes  from  his  linguistic  researches  that 
the  Palenque  civilization  was  older  than  Toltec,  and  dis- 
tinct from  it.  Bradford  says  that  the  ruins  in  the  south 
have  undoubted  claims  to  the  highest  antiquity.  "At  Pa- 
lenque as  at  Mitla  the  oldest  -work  is  most  artistic." 
"The  substructions  at  Mayapan,  some  of  those  at  Tulha, 
and  a  great  part  of  those  at  Palenque,"  are  classed  by 
Bourbourg  as  relics  of  the  earliest  period. 

According  to  old  Central  American  Books,  some  of 
the  principal  cities  and  earliest  seats  of  the  post  dilu- 
vian  civilization,  called  Colhuan,  were  in  the  great  for- 
est that  covers  the  southern  half  of  Yucatan  and  half 
of  Guatemala  and  Chiaj^as,  and  part  of  Honduras. 
Somewhere  in  this  region  was  the  traditional  kingdom 
of  "Xibalba,"  hidden  in  the  mists  of  antiquity  as  the 
ruins  are  hidden  in  the  impenetrable  woods.  The  se- 
crets of  the  unexplored  land  taunt  the  imagination, 
and  the  explored  ruins  do  but  little  more.     It  is  supposed 


CENTRAL  a:\IERICANS  OF  ANTIQUITY  1G7 

that  there  are  more  undiscovered  ruins  within  the  for- 
est than  all  that  are  known  outside.  It  is  surrounded  by 
some  of  the  greatest  ruins,  and  must  have  been  the  central 
area  of  the  ancient  civilization.     Mr.  Squire  says: 

"By  far  the  greater  proportion  of  the  country  is  in  its  prime- 
val state  anil  covered  with  dense,  tangled  and  almost  impene- 
trable forests,  rendering  fruitless  all  attempts  at  systematic  im- 
vestigation.  There  are  vast  tracts  untrodden  by  human  feet,  or 
traversed  only  by  Indians,  who  have  a  superstitious  reverence 
for  the  moss-covered  and  crumbling  monuments,  hidden  in  the 
depths  of  tlie  wilderness.  .  .  For  these  and  other 
reasons  it  will  be  long  before  the  treasures  of  the  past  in  Cen- 
tral America  can  become  fully  known." 

Mr.  Squier  "heard  of  remains  and  monuments  in 
Honduras  and  San  Salvador  eqiml  to  those  of  Copan  in 
interest  and  extent."  Ursua,  a  Spanish  officer  who  cap- 
tured a  native  town  at  Lake  Peten,  in  Guatemala,  re- 
ported wrecks  of  cities  in  the  wilderness,  apparently 
very  ancient.  Ur.  Plongeon  says  there  is  a  part  of  that 
unexplored  region  that  is  guarded  from  approach  by  im- 
placable native  tribes. 

The  valleys  of  the  Tigris  and  Nile,  and  the  shores  of 
i  Greece,  were  dry  and  treeless,  or  swept  by  wholesome 
Ji^  breezes  from  mountain,  desert  or  sea,  and  we  can  under- 
stand why  they  were  chosen.  In  Central  America  was 
one  of  the  densest  populations  of  ancient  times,  in  a 
region  that  is  at  this  late  day  uninhabitable  and  impen- 
etrable; where  nature  holds  unchallenged  sway,  and  great 
trees  stretch  out  their  arms  over  abandoned  altars,  and 
wind  their  roots  around  life-like  statues  as  the  serpent  of 
classic  story  did  the  Trojan  priest  and  his  sons.  This  for- 
est region  presents  the  anomaly  of  being  the  first  part  of 
the  Northern  contineul  to  be  occupied  in  ancient,  and  the 
last,  except  the  Pole,  to  be  explored  in  modern,  times. 
The  jungle  of  Central  America,  was  the  least  likely  place 


^ 


168  THE  WORLD-STORY 

in  which  to  expect  to  find  master-pieces  of  art  and  all 
the  evidences  of  high  thought  and  love  and  worship. 
The  Indians  "have  a  superstitious  reverence  for  the  moss- 
covered  and  crumbling  monuments."  The  proudly  cultur- 
ed man  may  confess  himself  awed  by  a  mystery  that  puz- 
zles the  mind,  startles  the  imagination,  and  appeals 
strongly  to  all  the  religious  senses. 

It  may  be  that  writing  was  at  one  time  prohibited  in 
Central  America,  as  the  histories  reach  back  only  to  a 
period  of  disruption.  The  Maya  records  extend  back 
but  a  few  centuries  beyond  the  time  of  the  conquest; 
others  go  farther  back,  while  Toltec  chronology  is  said 
to  begin  at  900  B.  C.  The  principal  histories  were 
written  soon  after  the  conquest,  by  Spaniards  who  had 
learned  the  native  languages,  and  by  native  converts 
who  wrote  their  own  language  with  the  Spanish  alphabet. 
The  histories  include  traditions  of  the  earliest  ages.  The 
Flood,  the  migration  from  beyond  the  sea,  and  the  for- 
mer existence  of  a  race  of  giants  on  this  continent, 
are  unmistakable  landmarks  in  many  of  the  paintings, 
traditions  and  histories.  The  unread  inscriptions  of 
Central  America,  painted  on  paper  and  sculptured  on 
stone,  are  supposed  to  be  in  an  old  language  from  which 
the  Maya  family  are  derived;  and  they  are  to  it  what 
Coptic  was  to  old  Egyptian  before  the  Rosetta  Stone  was 
found.  The  Catholic  writers  who  found  so  many  Scrijj- 
tural  analogies  in  the  native  myths  and  legends,  have 
been  derided  as  fanatics,  but  the  whirligig  of  time  is 
aveneinac  them. 

The  "Popol  Vuh,"  the  national  book  of  the  Quiches,  is 
a  production  of  a  later,  semi-barbarous  age,  yet  it  enables 
us  to  see,  says  Mr.  Baldwin,  "what  they  admired  in 
character,  as  virtue,  heroism,  nobleness,  beauty;  it 
discloses  their  mythology  and  their  notions  of  religious 


CENTRAL  AMERICANS  OF  ANTIQUITY  1C9 

-vvorsliip;  in  a  word,  it  bears  witness  to  the  fact  that  the 
various  families  of  mankind  are  all  of  one  blood  so  far,  at 
least,  as  to  be  precisely  alike  in  nature."  He  also  writes: 
"The  cosmogony  and  mythological  lore  of  the  Quiches 
seem  to  have  their  root  in  the  beliefs  and  facts  of  a 
time  far  more  ancient  than  the  national  beginning 
of  this  people."  A  similar  wise  remark  is  made  con- 
cerning the  religious  traditions  of  the  Aztecs.  They 
were  so  much  in  conflict  with  the  revolting  practices 
of  the  people  that  they  must  have  come  down  from  a  pu- 


rer age. 


The  Central  American  and  Mexican  nations  have  in 
modern  times  been  distinct;  but  it  is  said  there  are  resem- 
blances enough  between  them  to  prove  that  they  w^ere 
united,  at  a  period  long  anterior  to  the  sixth  century. 
Their  country  must  have  been  to  the  southward,  because 
the  ruins  there  are  oldest.  From  the  traditions  and  the 
political  conditions  at  the  time  of  the  conquest,  it  is 
agreed  that  the  Aztecs  were  preceded  by  the  Toltecs  and 
the  Toltecs  by  the  Colhuas,  who  were  the  original  civil- 
izers,  and  who  may  have  come — says  Mr.  Baldwin — 
from  South  America;  and  the  Toltecs  and  Aztecs  are 
branches  of  that  people,  and  their  language  is  rep- 
resented l)y  the  Tzendal,  Quiche  and  other  kindred 
dialects.  The  date  assigned  for  the  beginning  of  the  Yo- 
tanic  empire  is  1,000  B.  C.  The  Toltecs  went  southward, 
after  their  overthrow  in  Mexico,  in  the  11th  century. 
Abbe  Bourbourg  thought  the  Nahua  power  was  first  es- 
tablished in  eastern  and  southeastern  Mexico  by  Olmec 
tribes  almost  simultaneously  with  its  growth  in  the 
south.  Mr.  Bancroft  gathers  from  Quiche  traditions 
in  the  Popol  Vuli,  the  following  deductions: 

"Ist,  the  existence  in  ancient  times  of  a  great  empire  some- 
•\vliere  in  Central  America,  called  Xibalba  by  it?;  enemies;  2d,  the 


170  THE  WORLD-STORY 

growth  of  a  rivaling,  neighboring  power;  3d,  a  long  struggle,  ex- 
tending through  several  generations  at  least,  and  resulting  in 
the  dowfall  of  the  Xibalban  kings;  4th,  a  subsequent  scattering, 
— the  cause  of  which  is  not  stated,  but  was  evidently  war,  civil 
or  foreign, — of  the  formerly  victorious  nations  from  Tolan,  their 
chief  city  or  province;  5th,  the  identification  of  a  portion  of 
the  migrating  chiefs  with  the  founders  of  the  Quiche-Cakchi- 
quel  nations  in  possession  of  Guatemala  at  the  conquest." 

Xibalba  of  the  Quiches  is  the  Votanic  empire  of  the 
Serpents,  in  Maya  traditions,  located  in  the  region  of  the 
Usumacinta.  Mr.  Bancroft  says  the  evidence  points  to 
the  Usumacinta  region,  "not  necessarily  as  the  original 
cradle  of  American  civilization,  but  as  the  most  ancient 
home  to  which  it  can  be  traced  by  traditional,  monumental 
and  linguistic  records." 

The  location  of  the  capital  of  this  empire  is  a  matter 
of  conjecture;  Paleuque  is  on  the  northern  verge   of  it. 

Mr.  Baldwin  treats  these  subjects  as  follows: 

"The  Colhuas  are  connected  with  vague  references  to  a  long 
and  important  period  in  the  history  previous  to  the  Toltec  ages. 
They  seem  to  have  been,  in  some  respects,  more  advanced  in 
civilization  than  the  Toltecs.  "What  is  said  of  events  in  their 
history  relates  to  their  great  city,  called  Xibalba,  the  capital  of 
an  important  kingdom  to  which  this  name  was  given.  The  Tol- 
tecs, in  alliance  with  the  uncivilized  Chichimecs  of  the  moun- 
tains, subjugated  this  kingdom,  and  thus  brought  to  a  close  the 
period  which  may  be  termed  Colhuan.  This  kingdom  seems  to 
have  included  Guatemala,  Yucatan,  Tabasco,  Tehuantepec, 
Chiapas,  Honduras,  and  other  districts  in  Central  America;  and 
it  may  have  included  all  Southern  INIexico,  for  places  north  of 
the  Tampico  river  are  mentioned  as  being  within  its  limits 
when  the  Toltecs  came  into  the  country.  Some  of  the  principal 
seats  of  the  Colhua  civilization  were  in  the  region  now  covered 
by  the  great  forest." 

The  great  Maya  family,  with  its  numerous  branches 
and  various  dialects,  is  comparatively  recent,  with  all 
that  pertains  to  it  except  its  taditions  and  lineage.     Ux- 


CENTRAL  AMERICANS  OF  ANTIQUITY  171 

nial  and  Mayapan  and  the  empires  they  represent,  are 
medieval.  Colhua  cities,  so  called,  and  Colhua  civiliza- 
tion, lie  back  of  all  these.  If  more  than  this  can  not 
be  made  apparent,  it  is  because  the  work  of  exploration 
is  but  barely  begun. 

Several  authors  mention  the  tradition  that  part  of 
the  ancient  people  came  from  the  east  in  ships,  landing 
first  at  Panuca.  This  arrival  from  opposite  directions 
is  called  in  the  Maya  traditions,  "great  descent,"  and 
"little  descent;"  and  Votan,  "returning  from  one  of  his 
voyages,  found  seven  families  of  the  Tzequil  nation,  who 
had  joined  the  first  inhabitants,  and  recognized  them  as 
of  the  same  origin  as  himself." 

The  fact  that  the  tower  of  Babel  and  the  temple  at 
Jerusalem  both  figure  in  the  histories,  is  proof  of  two  mi- 
grations at  separate  eras  to  this  continent  from  those 
two  points.  Notwithstanding  the  statement  that  Votan 
was  "the  grandson  of  that  very  respectable  old  man  who 
built  the  great  ark,"  some  of  his  exploits  bring  him  down 
to  a  more  recent  period,  and  for  the  purposes  of  this  chap- 
ter he  must  be  regarded  as  the   hero   from   Jerusalem. 

Tradition  is  reliable  for  general  facts,  but  not  for 
dates  nor  the  succession  of  events.  There  is  nothing 
more  honestly  intended  than  tradition;  it  is  a  filial  ef- 
fort to  perpetuate  and  preserve  the  common  heritage  of 
human  interests;  but,  in  all  lands  alike,  it  has  been  a 
labyrinthine  maze.  Traditions  and  myths  are  shadows 
that  remain  of  realities  that  have  passed  beyond  reach. 
The  study  of  them  is  a  modern  science,  that  enables 
men  of  the  present  time  to  re-write  the  history  of  all 
former  generations. 

The  Quiche  version  of  the  flood  legend  is  not  so  def- 
inite as  some  others;  it  is  from  tlio  Popnl  Yah,  and  is  as 
follows: 


172  THE  WORLD-STORY 

"Then  the  waters  were  agitated  by  the  will  of  heaven,  and  a 
great  inundation  came  upon  the  heads  of  these  creatures.  .  .  . 
The  face  of  the  earth  was  obscured,  and  a  heavy  darkening 

rain  commenced — rain  by  day  and  rain  by  night 

There  was  heard  a  great  noise  above  their  heads,  as  if  produced 
bj'  fii-e.  Then  were  men  seen  running,  pushing  each  other, 
filled  with  despair;  they  wished  to  climb  upon  their  houses,  but 
tumbling  down,  fell  to  the  ground;  they  wished  to  climb  upon 
the  trees,  and  the  trees  shook  them  off;  they  wished  to  enter  in- 
to the  grottoes  and  the  grottoes  closed  themselves  before  them. 

.  .  .  Water  and  fire  contributed  to  the  universal  ruin  at 
the  time  of  the  first  great  cataclysm  which  preceded  the  fourth 
creation." 

The  Quiches  say  that  when  they  came  to  this  country 
the  sea  parted  for  them,  which  is  doubtless  a  tradition 
of  the  crossing  of  the  Red  Sea. 

Dr.  Arthur,  concerning  the  moniiment  at  Yzamel 
known  as  the  "Caro  Gigantesca,"  or  gigantic  face,  says: 

■'Behind  and  on  both  sides,  from  under  the  mitre,  a  short  veil 
fixlls  upon  the  shoulders,  so  as  to  protect  the  back  of  the  head 
and  neck.  This  particular  appendage  vividly  calls  to  mind  the 
same  feature  in  the  symbolic  adornments  of  Hindoo  andEgptian 
priests,  and  even  those  of  the  Hebrew  hierarchy." 

Mr.  Short  thus  notices  the  difference  between  what  lie 
calls  ancient  and  modern  styles: 

"In  the  ancient  or  Chiapan,  the  irregularities  in  the  face  of 
the  pyramid,  caused  by  constructing  its  tiers  of  rectangular 
stones,  were  filled  with  mortar,  and  an  even  surface  produced. 
In  the  modern  or  Yucatec  style  the  blocks  of  stone  facing  are 
beveled  to  the  angle  of  the  slope.  Furthermore,  in  some  instances 
the  corners  of  the  pyramids  were  rounded.  At  Palenque  the 
superstructures  were  of  one  story  only,  while  Yucatec  struc- 
tures were  often  formed  of  three  receding  stories. 

In  the  sanctuaries  of  Palenque  "are  found  sculptured 
repi'esentations  of  idols  which  resemble  the  most  an- 
cient gods,  both  of  Egypt  and  Syria,"  The  casa  that 
contains  the  celebrated  tablet  of  the  cross,  stands  on  the 


CENTRAL  A:\IERICANS  OF  ANTIQUITY  173 

summit  of  a  high  truncated  pyramid,  as  all  ancient  pa- 
gan temples  do.  Charency  professes  to  have  decipher- 
ed enough  of  the  inscriptions  on  the  cross  to  make  out 
the  name  of  Kukulkan,  "who  was  one  of  the  very  oldest 
personages  in  Central  American  mythology,  as  Con  M-as 
one  of  the  oldest  in  Peru.  Kukulkan,  sometimes  as  Zam- 
na,  was  associated  with  almost  everything  in  civiliza- 
tion. He  introduced  the  beginnings  of  civilized  life, 
invented  the  art  of  writing,  and  Avas  to  the  Central 
Americans  not  wholly  unlike  what  Thoth  was  to  the 
Egyptians." 

"Hifh  places"  were  raised  on  all  the  hills  of  Pales- 
tine.  On  great  occasions  the  Israelites  assembled  at 
Gilgal,  which  word  signifies  "a  heap."  Shiloh,  where 
the  ark  was  kept  and  where  the  people  assembled,  was 
on  the  top  of  a  high  hill.  The  temple  of  Solomon  was 
built  upon  a  hill — the  same  where  Jehovah  had  ap- 
peared to  David,  and  where  Abraham  took  Isaac  to 
offer  him.  Samaria  w^as  a  "high  place"  and  a  "watch 
hill"  of  the  Ten  Tribes;  Gerizim  was  blessed  by  Mos- 
es, and  either  it  or  Jerusalem  was  the  sacred  seat  of 
Melchizedek.  Jerusalem  was  built  upon  the  water-shed 
between  the  Dead  Sea  and  the  Mediterranean,  "in  the 
midst  of  the  nations  and  countries  round  about  her", 
and  was  called  by  Jerome  the  "umbilicus  terras," 
the  center,  boss,  or  navel  of  the  world.  The  Talmud 
calls  the  polar  axis  "The  strength  of  the  hill  of  Zion." 
Abraham  built  an  altar  to  the  Lord  on  a  hill  near  Bethel. 
Gideon  and  Manoah  built  altars  on  high  places;  as  did 
Samuel  at  jNIizpeh,  Saul  at  Ajalon  and  Elijah  at  Mt. 
Carmel.  The  Israelites  of  the  true  faith,  and  those 
who  apostatized,  kept  up  this  one  idea,  in  common  with 
the  whole  world,  of  worshiping  on  high  places.  Tliis 
makes  room  for  the  supposition  that  Israelites  in  Amer 


174  THE  AVOKLD-STORY 

ica  built  high    places,    and  that  they  were    afterward 
perverted  to  idolatrous  worship. 

The  origin  of  paganism,  which  is  so  uniform  in  its 
outward  manifestations  in  all  lands  and  throughout  all 
ages,  has  not  been  explained.  "There  has  been,"  says 
a.  writer  in  Is7-aers  Watchman  of  May  1887,  "a  continuity  of 
the  Babylonian  symbols  through  social  and  racial  changes 
for  four  thousand  years."  But  the  Babylonian  symbols 
were  antediluvian.  An  early  Christian  sect  called  Ophites, 
held  that  the  serpent's  teaching  in  the  garden  was  cor- 
rect, and  that  Cain  and  Esau,  and  intermediates  and  suc- 
cessors of  like,  character,  were  the  true  line  of  saints. 
Bel,  or  Belus,  was  the  sun-god  of  Babylonia,  of  whom 
Nimrod  was  the  original.  Mr.  Herring,  in  chapter  II, 
has  asserted  that  the  ritual  of  the  "mysteries"  was  of  re- 
mote antiquity  and  had  in  the  ancient  nations  a  common 
orio:in.     The  writer  in  the  Watchman  continues: 


o 


"Paganism  in  its  objects  and  in  its  essence  is  one  all  over  the 
earth.  Its  outward  manifestation  has  varied  in  names  and  at- 
tributes according  to  time  and  locality.  It  has  always  been  pre- 
sided over  by  one  "Grand  Master,"  and  its  prime  object  has  been 
to  secure  for  Satan  those  results  toward  wliicn  the  fall  of  man 
was  but  the  first  step.  It  aims  at  nothing  less  than  the  de- 
thronement of  the  Creator  and  the  enthronement  of  Satan.  Its 
hope  is  that  Satan,  in  spite  of  past  defeats,  may  still  induce 
men  so  to  act  that  the  prophecies  of  God  shall  fail.  But  these 
hopes  were,  in  the  individual,  only  arrived  at  by  them  after 
submitting  to  the  difficult  and  painful  process  known  as  "initia- 
tion into  the  mysteries,"  a  process  which,  after  years  of  delib- 
erate efforts  to  remove  those  safeguards  that  God  has  provided 
against  the  open  attacks  of  the  Powers  of  the  Air,  ends  in  the 
complete  and  final  submission  to  the  will  of  the  demons. 
Those  alone  who  had  passed  through  this  process  were  allowed 
to  manipulate  the  grand  scheme  of  the  mystery.  It  was  the 
deadliest  of  all  secret  societies,  as  a  supernatural  knowledge  was 
gained." 


CENTRAL  A:\IERICAXS  OF  ANTIQUITY  175 

Writing  about  the  Palenque  inscriptions  to  Champol- 
lion,  a  half  century  ago,  Rafinesque  says: 

"But  in  the  great  variety  of  Egyptian  forms  of  the  same  let- 
ters, I  thought  that  I  could  trace  some  resemblance  with  our 
American  glyphs.  In  fact  I  could  see  in  them  the  Egyptian 
cross,  snake,  circle,  delta,  sc^uare,  trident,  eye,  feather,  fish,  hand, 
etc.,  but  sought  in  vain  for  the  birds,  lions,  sphynx,  beetle,  and 
a  hundred  other  nameless  signs  of  Egypt."         *        *        * 

"I  was  delighted  to  find  it  so  explicit,  so  well  connected  with 
the  Egyptian,  being  also  an  acrostic  alphabet,  and  above  all,  to 
find  that  all  its  signs  were  to  be  seen  in  the  glyphs  of  Otolum, 
the  American  city  [Palenque].  The  numerical  analogy  is  32 
per  cent  with  the  Egyptian." 

"But  shall  we  be  able  to  read  these  glyphs  and  inscriptions 
without  positively  knowing  in  what  language  they  were  writ- 
ten? The  attempt  will  be  arduous,  but  not  impossible.  In 
Egypt,  the  Coptic  has  been  found  such  a  close  dialect  of  the 
Egyptian,  that  it  has  enabled  you  to  read  the  oldest  hieroglyph- 
ics. We  find  among  the  ancient  dialects  of  Chiapa,  Yucatan, 
and  Guatemala,  the  branches  of  the  ancient  speech  of  Otolum," 

The  presence  of  Egyptian  characters  on  the  works  of 
a  Hebrew  people,  was  provided  for  in  the  last  chapter. 
Mr.  Short  recognizes  the  simiLarity  of  the  Egyptian  and 
Maya  hieroglyphics  by  his  remark  that,  "notwithstand- 
ing the  oft-repeated  assertion  that  a  resemblance  be- 
tween Egyptian  and  Maya  hieroglyphics  exists,  no 
one  of  the  Egyptologists,  so  successful  in  their  chosen 
field,  has  been  able  to  decipher  the  Maya  writing." 

The  Central  Americans  had  many  books  at  the  time 
of  the  conquest.  The  Spanish  priests  desti'oyed  nearly 
all  of  them,  from  religious  motives.  Bishop  Landa 
aided  in  the  work  of  obliteration,  but  made  some 
amends  to  the  eternal  verities  by  writing  a  history  of 
the  ]Mayas,  and  more  especially  by  making  a  transcript 
and  explanation  of  the  Maya  hieroglyphic  alphabet, 
and  the  signs  of  their  mouths  and  days.     This  record 


176  THE  WORLD-STORY 

of  Landa  is  a  key  to  the  later  Central  American  liter- 
ature, and  by  its  use  some  progress  is  being  made  in 
deciphering  the  native  books  and  the  insci'iptions  on 
the  ruins.  Senior  Orozco  y  Berra  asserts  that  all  the 
geographical  names  of  the  peninsula  are  Maya,  and 
argues  from  this  that  there  has  been  but  little  change 
made  in  the  language  from  the  earliest  times.  It  is  to 
be  hopedr  that  such  is  the  case,  but  the  probabilities  are 
that  the  revolutions  that  obliterated  the  white  people 
from  the  continent,  also  defaced  their  monuments  and 
transformed  their  written  characters;  and  that  the  Ro- 
setta  stone  that  will  reveal  the  combination  of  the  lock 
that  holds  the  richest  treasures  is  yet  to  be  found.  Dr. 
Le  Plongeon,  in  discussing  this  point,  says: 

"I  must  speak  of  that  language  which  has  survived  unaltered 
through  the  vicissitudes  of  the  nations  that  spoke  it  thousands  of 
years  ago,  and  is  yet  the  general  tongue  in  Yucatan — the  Maya. 

-x-  *  "The  Maya,  containing  words  from  almost  every  lan- 
guage, ancient  or  modern,  is  well  worth  the  attention  of  philol- 
ogists. .  .  .  One  third  of  tlie  tongue  is  pure  Greek.  Who 
brought  the  dialect  of  Homer  to  America?  or  who  took  to 
Greece  that  of  the  Mayas?  Greek  is  the  offspring  of  the  Sans- 
crit. Is  Maya?  Or  are  they  coeval? — a  clue  for  ethnologists  to 
follow  the  migrations  of  the  human  family  on  this  continent. 
Did  the  bearded  men  whose  portraits  are  carved  on  the  mas- 
sive pillars  of  the  fortress  of  Itza,  belong  to  the  ISIaya  nation? 
The  Maya  is  not  devoid  of  words  from  the  Assyrian." 

The  followdng  quotations  are  from  Dr.  Plongeon's 
"Vestiges  of  the  Mayas,"  part  of  which  support  the  ar- 
gument of  chapter  12: 

"The  dwarfed  race  is  certainly  easily  distinguishable  from 
the  descendants  of  the  giants  that  tradition  says  once  upon  a 
time  existed  in  the  country,  whose  bones  are  yet  found,  and 
whose  portraits  are  painted  on  the  Avails  of  Chaocmol's  funeral 
chambers  at  Chitzen-Itza.       *        * 

"Let  us  hope  that  the  Mexican  government  will  grant  nic  the 


f. 

\ 


CENTRAL  AMERICANS  OF  ANTIQUITY  177 

requisite  permission,  that  I  may  bring  forth  from  the  edifices 
where  they  are  hidden,  the  i^recious  volumes,  without  opposition 
from  the  owners  of  the  property  where  the  monuments  exist. 
Until  then  we  must  content  ourselves  with  the  study  of  the 
inscriptions  upon  the  walls.         *        * 

"There  can  be  no  doubt  that  in  very  ancient  times  the  same 
customs  and  religious  worship  existed  in  Uxmal  and  Chichen, 
since  these  two  cities  were  founded  by  the  same  family,  that  of 
Can(the  Serpent),  whose  name  is  written  on  all  the  monuments 
in  both  places.  Can  and  the  members  of  his  family  worshiped 
deity  under  the  symbol  of  of  the  mastodon's  head.  At  Chich- 
en a  tableau  of  said  worship  forms  the  ornaments  of  the  building 
designated  Iglesia  in  Stephen's  works;  being  in  fact  the  north, 
wingof  the  palace  and  museum.  This  is  the  reason  why  the 
mastodon's  head  forms  so  prominent  a  feature  of  all  the  orna- 
ments of  the  edifices  built  by  them.  They  also  worshiped  the 
sun  and  fire,  which  was  represented  by  the  hieroglyyhic  used  by 
the  Egyptians  for  the  sun,  a  circle  with  a  mark  in  the  center. 
In  this  worship  of  fire  they  resembled  the  Chaldeans  and 
Hindoos. 

"Can  and  his  family  were  probably  monotheists;  the  masses 
of  the  people,  however,  may  have  placed  the  different  natural 
phenomena  under  the  direct  supervision  of  special  imaginary 
beings. 

"My  studies  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  country  posterior  to 
the  invasion  of  the  Nahualts.  These  people  appear  to  have 
destroyed  the  high  civilization  existing  at  the  time  of  their  ad- 
vent, and  tampered  with  the  ornaments  of  the  buildings,  in  or- 
der to  introduce  the  symbols  of  the  reciprocal  forces  of  nature.  . 

"The  language  of  the  ancient  Mayas,  strange  as  it  may  appear 
has  survived  all  the  vicissitudes  of  time,  wars  and  political 
convulsions.  It  has,  of  course,  somewhat  degenerated  by  the 
mingling  of  so  many  races  in  such  a  limited  space  as  Yucatan 
is;  but  it  is  yet  the  vernacular  of  the  people. 

"In  some  localities  in  Central  America  it  is  still  spoken  in  its 
pristine  purity,  as  for  example,  by  the  Choacmules,  a  tribe  of 
bearded  white  men,  it  is  said,  who  live  in  the  vicinity  of  the  nn- 
ex})lored  ruins  of  Tekal. 

"The  ^laya  language  seems  to  be  one  of  the  oldest  tongues 
spoken  by  man,  since  it  contains  words  and  expressions  of  all  or 


178  THE  WORLD-STORY 

nearly  all  of  the  known  polished  languages  of  the  earth.  The 
name  Maya,  with  the  same  signification  everywhere  it  is  met, 
is  to  be  found  scattered  over  the  different  countries  of  what  we 
term  the  Old  World,  as  in  Central  America.     . 

"If  we  start  from  the  American  continent  and  travel  toward 
the  setting  sun,  we  may  he  able  to  trace  the  route  followed  by 
the  INIound  Builders  of  the  plains  of  Asia  and  the  Nile.  The 
mounds  scattered  through  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  seem  to 
be  the  rude  specimens  of  that  kind  of  architecture.  Then  come 
the  more  highly  finished  teocalis  of  Yucatan  and  Mexico  and 
Peru;  the  pyramidal  mounds  of  ]\Iaui,  one  of  the  Sandwich  Is- 
lands; those  of  the  Feejee  and  other  islands  of  the  Pacific,  which 
in  China  we  find  converted  into  the  high,  porcelain  gradated 
towers;  and  these  again  converted  into  the  more  imposing  tem- 
ples of  Cochin-China,  Hindostan  and  Ceylon — so  grand,  so  stu- 
penduous  in  their  wealth  of  ornamentation,  that  those  of  Chi- 
chen-Itza,  Uxmal,  Palenque,  admirable  as  they  are,  well  might 
dwindle  into  insignificance,  as  far  as  labor  and  imagination  are 
concerned,  when  compared  with  them.  That  they  present  the 
same  fundamental  conception  is  evident — a  platform  rising  over 
another  platform,  the  one  above  being  of  lesser  size  than  the 
one  below,  the  American  monuments  serving,  as  it  were,,  as 
models,  for  the  more  elaborate  and  perfect,  showing  the  advance 
of  art  and  knowledge." 

(The  reader  will  doubtless  prefer  the  theory  concern- 
ing the  origin  of  the  pyramidal  temple  given  in  pre- 
vious chapters,  and  see  that  Mr.  P.  has  mistaken  the 
direction  of  the  migration  he  has  sought  to  trace.) 

Many  myths,  names  and  customs  are  common  to  India 

and  Yucatan  ;  the  printing  of  the  red  hand  on  the  walls 

for  instance: 

"If  we  now  abandon  that  country,  and  crossing  the  Ilyma- 
laya's  range  enter  Afghanistan,  there  we  again  find  ourselves  in 
a  country  inhabited  by  IMaya  tribes.  The  name  of  the  tribes 
that  form  part  of  the  population  is  Maya.  The  name  of  the 
the  river  Kabul  is  the  INIaya  for  working  hand — (the  red  hand 
referred  to  above).  The  valley  of  Chenar  would  be  in  original 
American,  the  valley  of  the  tvell  of  the  vjoman's  di'ddyen.  Kubi- 
Khel  would  be  tfi^c  oj  the  feather.      Zaka-Khcl  the  tribe  of  the 


CENTRAL  AMERICANS  OF  ANTIQUITY  17  9 

locust.    Khiber  pass,  the  road  oj  ike  havA,  etc.  Maya  in  Hindo- 
stan  is  the  same  as  Magi  in  Babylon. 

"Recent  researches  in  the  plains  of  lower  Mesopotamia  have 
revealed  to  us  their  mode  of  building  their  sacred  editices,  which 
is  precisely  identical  with  that  of  the  Mayas ;  each  people  using 
the  material  closest  at  hand,  clay  and  bricks  in  Chaldea,  stones 
in  Yucatan.  The  filling  in  of  the  buildings  being  of  inferior 
material,  crude  or  sun-dried  bricks,  at  Warka  or  Mughui,  of  un- 
hewn stones  of  all  shapes  and  sizes  at  TJxmal  and  Chichen, 
faced  with  walls  of  hewn  stone,  many  feet  in  thickness  through- 
out. Grand  exterior  staircases  lead  to  the  summit,  where  was 
the  shrine  of  the  god,  the  temple. 

"In  Yucatan  these  mounds  are  generally  composed  of  seven 
superposed  platforms,  the  one  above  being  smaller  than  the  one 
immediately  below ;  the  temple  or  sanctuary  containing  invari- 
ably two  chambers,  the  inner  one,  the  sanctum  sanctorum,  be- 
ing the  smallest. 

"The  ^layas  at  times,  .  .  as  the  primitive  Chaldee  in  their  writ- 
ings, made  use  of  characters  composed  of  straight  lines  only,  en- 
closed in  square  or  oblong  figures,  as  seen  from  the  hieratic  writing 
at  Warka,  and  at  Mayapan  give  a  :Maya  definition  of  Egyptian 
and  Chaldean  deities,  Ra,  Ana,  Anata,  Bel  Beltis,  Hea,  Dav-Kina, 
Sin,  San,  Yul,  Ishter,  Uuruk,  (king),  Ashur,  etc. 

"The  hand  witing  on  the  wall,  Me7ie  mene  upJiarsen,  are 
:Maya ;  and  the  last  words  of  the  Lord,  Elio,  elio,  lama  Sabacldha- 
ni  'are  pure  INIaya  vocables ;'  and  mean,  'Now  I  am  sinking,  dark- 
ness covers  my  face ! '  "•''  '••'  *  ^  ^ 

"The  Khati  who  ruled  Egypt  as  shepherd  kings,  the  Hititites 
of  scripture,  are  named  from  the  verb  Katah,  to  put  obstacles  in 
the  way.  Charchemish  their  emporium  is,  in  Noachian,  if  I 
may  so  express  it,  'city  of  navigators,  merchants.'  Katish  their 
sacred  city,  is,  'city  where  sacrifices  are  oflfered.' " 

The  Kahiti  arc  the  very  people  that  Mr.  Delafield 
wrote  his  learned  volume  to  prove  the  founders  of 
American  civilization,  but  he  did  not  know  this  kind  of 
proof. 

Pairc'S  51  and  52,  show  the  idi-ntitv  of  American  and 
Egyptian  names  and  customs. 

"There  is  a  monument  that  served  as  a  castle  when  the  city 


180  THE  WORLD-STORY 

of  the  holy  men,  the  Itzas,  was  at  the  hight  of  its  splendor. 
Every  anta,  every  pillar  of  this  edifice,  is  sculptured  with  por- 
traits of  warriors  and  noblemen.  Among  these,  many  with  long 
beards,  whose  type  recalls  vividlj^  to  mind  the  features  of  the 
Afghans. 

"Judging  from  the  sculjitures  and  mural  paintings,  the  higher 
classes  in  Mayab  wore  in  very  remote  ages,  dresses  of  quite  an 
elaborate  character. 

"The  Mayas  divined  by  the  insi:>ection  of  entrails,  and  had 
their  astrologers  and  projDhets.  By  the  examination  of  the 
mural  paintings  we  know  that  animal  magnetism  was  under- 
stood and  practiced  by  the  priests,  who  themselves  seem  to 
have  consulted  the  clairvoyants.  .  .  The  construction  of  the  gno- 
mon shows  that  they  had  found  the  means  of  calculating  the 
latitude  of  places,  and  that  they  knew  the  distance  of  the  sol- 
stitial points  from  the  equator.  ...  If  we  look  back  through 
the  vista  of  ages  to  the  dawn  of  civilized  life  in  the  countries 
known  as  the  old  world,  we  find  this  number,  seven,  among  the 
Asiatic  nations  as  well  as  in  Egypt  and  IMayab.  .  .  As  the 
Egj^ptians,  they  wrote  in  vertical  columns  and  horizontal  lines, 
from  right  to  left.' " 

"The  Mayas  had  many  signs  and  characters  identical  with  the 
Eg3'ptians;  possessing  the  same  alphabetical  and  symbolical 
value  in  both  nations;  among  the  symbolical  I  might  mention 
a  few:  water,  country,  king,  lord,  offering,  splendor.  .  .  . 
Eighteen  of  the  leters  have  the  same  sound  and  value  as  the 
Spanish.    A,  i,  x,  and  pp,  are  identical  with  the  Etruscan." 

By  the  use  of  these  letters  Mr.  Le  Plongeon  found 
the  names  of  the  supposed  Maya  founders  to  be  Aal-,  a 
turtle;  Cny,  a  fish;  Chaacmol,  a  leopard.  The  latter  one 
of  these  is  also,  rather  confusedly,  called  the  culture 
hero  of  his  country,  closely  resembling  Osiris. 

In  Mayab  mysteries  were  practiced  and  perpetuated. 
The  initiated  had  to  j^ass  through  different  gradations 
to  reach  the  highest  or  third: 

"Certain  signs  and  symbols  were  used  by  the  affiliated  that 
are  perfectly  identical  with  those  used  among  the  Masons  in 
their  symbolical  lodges.  *  -s-  *  * 

"Tt  is  impossible  to  form  a  correct  idea  of  thcir[the  Mayas'] 


I 


i 


CENTRAL  AMERICANS  OF  ANTIQUITY  181 

attainments,  since  only  the  most  enduring  monuments  have 
reached  us,  resisting  the  disintegrating  effects  of  time  and  of  the 
atmosphere." 

The  most  important  items  of  Dr.  De  Plongeon's  evi- 
dence relates  to  Peru,  whose  antiquities  he  studied  sev- 
eral years: 

"The  Quichua  contains  many  words  that  seem  closely  allied 
to  the  dialects  spoken  hy  the  nations  inhabiting  the  regions 
called  to-day  Central  America,  and  the  Maya  tongue. 

Concerning  the  mural  paintings  at  Chichen  he  says: 

"By  comparing  them  with  those  of  the  Quiches,  I  cannot  but 
Ijelieve  that  Manco's  ancestors  emigrated  from  Xibalba,  carry- 
ing with  them  the  notions  of  the  northern  country. 

Senor  Melgar,  a  Mexican  linguist,  sees  a  resemblance 
between  names  used  by  the  Chiapenecs  in  their  Calendar 
and  the  Hebrew,  and  Mr.  Short  gives  the  following  list: 
English.  Chiapenec.  Hebrew. 

Son Been Ben. 

Daughter Batz Bath. 

Father Abagh Abba. 

Star  in  Zodiac Chimax Chimah. 

King Molo Maloc. 

Name  applied  to  Adam  .Abagh Abah. 

Afflicted Chanam Chanan. 

God Elab Elab. 

September Tsiquin Tischiri 

]\Iore Chic Chi. 

Rich Chabin Chabic. 

Son  of Enot Enos. 

To  give Votan Votan. 

The  results  of  this  linguistic  investigation  are:  1st, 
the  Chiapenec  more  like  Hebrew  than  like  any  other 
Old-world  language;  2d,  the  Central  American 
languages,  including  the  Chiapenec,  closely  allied 
to  the  Quichua  of  Peru;  3d,  the  Quichua  and  Aymara 
exhibiting  the  most  astounding  affinities  Avith  the  Sem- 
etic  tongue;  4th,  pre-semitic  roots  mingled  with  Aryan 


182  THE  WORLD-STORY 

in  the  land  of  Asshur;  Sth,  the  oldest  inscriptions  much 
like  the  Egyj^tian. 

The  Chiapenecs  claim  to  have  been  pioneers  of  the 
land  they  inhabit,  coming  from  beyond  the  Atlantic 
three  thousand  years  ago.  Their  traditions  make  allusion 
to  a  tem2:»le  in  the  land  from  whence  they  came,  and  to 
the  flood  and  the  ark,  and  also  to  great  wars;  and  now, 
after  the  lapse  of  thousands  of  years,  their  language 
and  the  Hebrew  are  found  to  resemble  each  other  in  an 
extraordinary  manner.  This  resemblance  can  not  be 
regarded  as  accidental,  nor  determined  by  any  tendency 
of  the  inventive  powers  of  the  mind  to  select  special 
aids  to  meet  special  wants.  If  the  resemblance  were 
confined  to  the  Chiapenecs  alone,  it  would  not  be  so  clear- 
ly proof  of  a  common  Hebrew  origin,  but  it  does  not  fail 
in  any  part  of  the  continent,  from  Chili  and  Brazil  to 
the  British  possesions — growing  fainter  to  the  northward 
from  Peru,  among  living  dialects. 

There  has  been  a  recent  revolution  of  thought  con- 
cerning American  origins;  it  is  now  being  realized  that 
the  populations  are  of  old-world  origin.  Henceforth 
American  history  will  be  a  part  of  universal  history. 
As  language  is  the  golden  thread  that  man  in  his  mi- 
grations ever  spins  behind  him,  it  can  be  followed,  even 
though  the  lines  cross  each  other  like  the  interlock- 
ing of  a  spider's  web.  The  work  of  tracing  out  the 
lines  of  migration  for  all  civilized  peoples  except 
the  ancient  Americans  has  been  nearly  accomplished, 
and  the  analagous  progressive  triumphs  of  past  ages  are 
a  guarantee  that  the  ethnographic  chart  will  be  extended 
to  the  auburn-haired  men  of  Arica  and  to  the  bearded 
founders  of  Itzen. 

The  amirable  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg  was  the  author 
of  the  Atlantis  theory  of  the  origin  of  the  old  American 


CENTRAL  AMERICANS  OF  ANTIQUITY  183 

civilization.  The  argumentative  skill  of  his  successor, 
Mr.  Donnely,  is  plienominal.  The  facts  can  be  different- 
ly construed.  Professor  Orton,  in  "The  Andes  and  the 
Amazon,"  arguing  for  the  extreme  antiquity  of  the  Peru- 
vian ruins,  says: 

"Wilson  has  traced  six  terraces  in  going  up  from  the  sea 
through  the  proviuce  of  Esmaraldas  toward  Quito;  and  under- 
neath the  living  forest,  which  is  older  than  the  Spanish  invasion, 
many  gold,  copper  and  stone  vestiges  of  a  lost  population  were 
found.  In  all  cases  the  relics  are  situated  below  the  high-tide 
mark,  in  a  bed  of  marine  sediment,  from  which  he  infers 
that  this  part  of  the  country  formerly  stood  higher  above  the  sea. 
If  this  be  true,  vast  must  be  the  antiquity  of  these  remains,  for 
the  upheaval  and  subsidence  of  the  coast  is  exceedingly  slow.  .  . 
In  18()0  Mr.  Wilson  found,  on  the  coast  of  Equador,  ancient  or 
fossil  pottery,  vessels,  images,  &c. ,  some  of  which  were  of  gold, 
in  a  stratum  of  surface  earth,  beneath  a  marine  deposit  six  feet 
thick,  in  a  geological  formation,  as  old  as  the  drift  strata  of  Eu- 
roi)e,  and  identical  with  that  of  Guayaquil,  in  which  bones  of 
the  mastodon  are  met  with." 

Murchison  comments  as  follows: 

"The  discoveries  Mr.  Wilson  has  made  of  the  existence  of  the 
works  of  man  in  a  stratum  of  mould  beneath  the  sea-level,  and 
covered  by  several  feet  of  clay,  the  phenomena  persistent 
for  sixty  miles,  are  of  the  highest  interest  to  physical  geogra- 
phers and  geologists.  The  facts  seem  to  demonstrate  that  with- 
in the  human  period  the  lands  on  the  west  coast  of  equatorial 
America  were  depressed  and  submerged,  and  that  after  the  accum- 
idation  of  marine  clays  above  the  terrestrial  relics,  the  whole 
coast  was  elevated  to  its  present  position." 

These  conclusions  are  based  upon  the  theory  of  the 
slow  subsidence  and  upheaval  of  the  coast,  regardless  of 
the  rapidity  with  which  such  oscillations  sometimes  oc- 
cur; Avhile  the  time  required  to  form  the  clay  is  not 
specified.  Reference  to  the  bones  of  mastodons  avails 
nothing,  as  that  animal  continued  down  to  traditional 
times;  and  tiint  flakes  and  gold  ornaments  cannot  be  re- 


184  THE  WORLD-STORY 

ferred  to  the  same  era  and  to  the  same  state  of  civiliza- 
tion; and,  furthermore,  some  of  the  greatest  changes  in 
the  geological  history  of  that  region  are  quite  recent. 
According  to  the  American  Cyclopedia  the  geological 
conditions  of  the  mountain  region  of  Colombia  are 
"equally  extraordinary  and  perplexing:  Everywhere  are  found 
traces  of  stupcnduous  cataclysms  and  a  disarrangement  and  in- 
termixture of  the  primitive  and  sedimentary  rocks  which  seem 
to  set  classification  at  defiance.  In  some  places  great  rivers  and 
even  small  streams  have  cut  through  mountains  of  the  hardest 
rocks,  leaving  dizzy  escarpments  on  each  side;  in  others  are  enor- 
mous subsidences  in  the  earth,  as  if  the  props  of  its  surface  had 
suddenly  given  way,  or  vast  caverns  glistening  with  stalactites; 
while  everywhere  colossal  masses,  lifted  high  above  the  gener- 
al level,  attest  the  violence  of  volcanic  energies.  These  agencies 
are  still  active  in  places,  as  in  Batan,  near  Sogamoso,  where  the 
soil  is  so  much  heated  that,  although  in  the  heart  of  the  Andes, 
it  produces  all  the  fruits  of  the  tropics.  .... 

Col.  Codazzi  demonstrated  that  in  the  highlands  of  Bogota,  Tun- 
ja,  and  Velez,  where  now  is  the  densest  population,  there  once 
existed  a  system  of  broad  lakes,  which,  breaking  through  their 
barriers,  precipitated  themselves  through  what  is  now  the  river 
Suarez,  or  Sogamoso,  into  the  ocean,  leaving  the  traces  of  their  ir- 
ruption boldly  marked  on  the  face  of  the  country.  The  same 
authority  conceives  that  this  great  cataclysm  may  have 
occurred  within  the  past  four  centuries.  Some  evidence  in  sup- 
port of  his  theory  is  afforded  by  two  great  stones  which  have 
been  discovered  on  opposite  sides  of  what  must  have  been  the 
borders  of  the  principal  lake;  both  face  toward  the  point  of  rup- 
ture of  the  mountains,  and  the  faces  of  both  are  covered  with 
sculptures,  among  which  are  discoverable  figures  of  the  frog(the 
Chibcha  sign  of  water)." 

Bourbourg  taught  that  a  continent  had  sunk  on  the 
east  side  of  Central  America;  De  Costa,  on  the  contrary, 
locates  a  submerged  continent  on  the  west.  Dr  Flint, 
of  Nicaragua,  in  Am.  Anfiqwiriau,  takes  the  subject  in 
hand  as  follows: 
"There  is  evidence  on  the  west  coast  of  Nicaragua  and  Costa 


I 


CENTRAL  AMERICANS  OF  ANTIQUITY  185 

Rica  of  a  submergence  of  land,  under  the  Pacific,  Avlietlier  a 
continent  or  not  I  am  unable  to  decide,  but  on  the  strip  left  at 

Nicoya,  jade  has  been  found  in  abundance 

West  of  San  Rafael,  and  also  at  Cafares,  rock  inscriptions  are 
seen  at  low  tide,  showing  a  submergence  under  the  Pacific,  al- 
ready noticed." 

This  writer  reports  human  footi)rints  in  a  deep,  vol- 
canic stone-quarry  in  Nicaragua;  and  of  a  cave  at  San  An- 
dreas he  says:  "A  sudden  upheaval  to  the  north  and 
east  of  the  cave,  from  out  of  the  sea,  would  cause  the 
retiring  waters  to  pass  over  and  flood  the  cave  and  dis- 
appear in  the  Pacific,  cutting    a   channel   more    or   less 

deep I  do  see  no  other   way  of  forming  the 

sandstone.  The  present  sedimentary  rock  was  plastic  at 
that  time.  In  support  of  its  plasticity,  impressions  of 
a  tisrer's  tracks  in  line  with  those  of  man  and  of  an  ani- 
inal  of  the  wolf  species,  are  seen," 

Mr.  Baldwin  next  speaks  to  the  point: 

Brasseur  de  Bourbourg  claims  that  there  is  in  tlie  old  Central 
American  books  a  constant  tradition  of  an  immense  catastro- 
phe of  the  character  supposed;  that  this  tradition  existed  every- 
where among  the  people  when  they  first  became  known  to 
Europeans;  and  recollections  of  the  catastrophe  are  preserved 
in  some  of  their  festivals,  especially  in  one  celebrated  in  the 
month  of  Iscalli,  which  was  instituted  to  commemorate  this 
frightful  destruction  of  land  and  people,  and  in  which  princes 
and  people  humbled  themselves  before  the  Divinity,  and  be- 
sought him  to  withold  a  return  of  such  terrible  calamities.  .  .  . 
The  land  was  shaken  by  frightful  earthquakes,  and  the  waves 
of  the  sea  combined  with  volcanic  fires  to  overv.helm  and  en- 
gulf it.  Each  convulsion  swept  away  portions  of  the  land,  until 
the  whole  disappeared,  leaving  the  line  of  the  coast  as  it  is  now. 
]Most  of  the  inhabitants,  overtaken  amid  their  regular  employ- 
ments, were  destroyed;  but  some  escaped  in  ships,  and  some 
fled  for  safety  to  the  summits  of  high  mountains,  to  portions  of 
land  which  for  the  time  escapc<l  immediate  destruction. 
Quotations  are  made  from  the  old  book  in  which  this  tradition 
is  recorded  which  appear  to  verify  his  report  of  what  is  found 


186  THE  WORLD-STORY 

in  them.  To  criticise  intelligently  his  interpretation  of  their 
significance  one  needs  to  have  a  knowledge  of  those  books  and 
traditions  equal  at  least  to  his  own," 

It  is  pretty  evident  that  this  account  will  not  apply 
to  the  sinking  of  a  distant  island.  Until  more  definite  in- 
formation is  obtained  it  will  be  as  well  to  combine  all 
these  convulsions  of  South  and  Central  America  with 
the  desolation  of  the  cities  of  the  great  forest,  and,  upon 
the  authority  of  Ixtlixochitl,  fix  the  date  of  the  fateful 
overthrow,  at  the  time  of  the  death  of  Christ. 

Lest  the  reader,  in  hypercritical  mood,  turn  away 
from  this  history  at  this  stage,  after  having  followed  it 
through  uncipherable  myriads  of  ages,  let  him  reflect  that 
it  has  been  a  continuous  narrative,  without  a  break,  with  | 

perfect  method  and  conscious  purpose  and  recognizable 
plan,  with  nothing  adventitious,  nothing  unprovided  for. 


I 


i 


CHAPTER  XYI. 

AXCIEXT  MEXICAXS. 

The  group  of  ruius  known  as  Los  Edificos,  of  Que- 
mada,  Zacatecas,  Mexico,  are  thus  characterized  by  Mr. 
Short: 

"Sculpture,  hieroglyphics,  pottery,  idols,  arrowheads  and  oh- 
sidian  fragments  are  totally  wanting,  thus  presenting  a  strange 
contrast  with  all  other  ;Mexican  ruins.  Nevertheless,  the  mas- 
siveness  of  the  fortifications,  the  hight  and  great  thickness  of 
the  walls,  none  of  which  are  less  than  eight  feet  thick,  and  in 
one  instance  over  twenty;  the  extensive  system  of  paved  roads, 
besides  great  elevated  stone  causeways  running  through  the 
city,  the  size  of  the  enclosed  squares,  one  of  which  contains  six 
acres  ,  all  indicate  that  it  might  have  been  the  capital  of  a  pow- 
erful people  whose  architectural  affinities  with  all  others  that  we 
are  acquainted  with  are  very  few;  and  whose  contrasts  are 
numerous.  Certainly  the  type  and  execution  of  the  masonry, 
though  massive,  is  more  primitive  than  found  elsewhere  in 
^Mexico." 

At  Puente  Nacional,  State  of  Vera  Cruz,  is  a  grand 
pyramid  six  stories  high,  and  the  eastern  side  is  faced 
by  a  "stairway  in  the  form  of  a  cross." 

At  Centla  are  pyramidal  structures  and  defensive 
works.  One  hundred  and  fifty  miles  north-west  of  Vera 
Cruz,  are  ruins  buried  in  a  forest. 

Near  the  villafre  of  Comalcalco,  north-west  of  San 
Juan  Bautesta,  the  capital  of  Tabasco,  Desire  Charnay 
has  discovered  vast  ruins,  pyramids,  towers,  etc.,  all 
forest-grown,  and  surpassing  in  proportions  those  of  Pa- 
lenque.     At  Tula,  the  ancient  Tollan,  the  capital  of  the 


188  THE  WORLD-STORY 

Toltecs,  where  only  few  remains  had  been  found,  Char- 
nay  has  discovered  pyramids,  and  Toltec  houses  of  im- 
mense proportions.  One  of  the  houses  contained  forty- 
three  aj)artments,  besides  corridors.  Sculptures  were 
numerous.  The  bricks  were  burnt  clay,  and  were 
twelve  inches  long. 

M.  Charnay  also  found  at  Tula,  fossilized  remains  of 
cattle.  This  favors  the  Chinese  account  of  the  dis- 
covery by  them  of  America,  which  they  called  Fusang. 
They  described  a  country  like  Mexico,  where  the  people 
worked  oxen  which  had  immense  horns. 

Mr.  Waldeck  has  published  figures  of  Mexican  ceramic 
art.  One  sjjecimen  is  a  vase  supported  on  three  feet, 
each  perforated  by  a  perfect  Maltese  cross;  another  is 
adorned  on  the  side  with  a  perfect  crux  ansata  These 
objects  are  in  the  Mexican  Museum. 

Comparing  the  styles  of  architecture  of  the  Nahuas 
and  Mayas,  Mr.  Short  says: 

"The  pyramidal  structure  we  have  found  employed  by  both 
Mayas  and  Nahuas,  with  certain  modifications  and  with  such 
resemblances  as  would  seem  to  indicate  that  both  peoples  had 
been  originally,  or  at  an  early  day,  near  neighbors,  and  that  the 
younger  people,  at  least  the  more  recent  in  their  occupancy  of 
]\Iexico  and  Central  America,  the  Nahuas,  may  have  cojaied  the 
pyramid  in  its  perfected  form  from  the  Mayas.  AV^e  have  notic- 
ed some  difference  in  the  ancient  and  modern  Maya  styles.  .  .  . 
The  Nahua  architecture  offers  a  great  variety  of  styles,  but  at 
the  same  thne  the  pyramidal  structure  is  the  fundamental 
feature  of  all  kinds  of  structures." 

The  Mexican  government  at  the  time  of  the  conquest 
was  better  devised  than  many  others.  The  monarchy 
was  elective,  the  judiciary  independent  and  graded,  as 
at  present  in  the  United  States,  and  these  judges  con- 
stituted a  national  congress. 

The  Mexicans  adjusted  their  festivals  by  the  move- 


ANCIENT  IMEXICANS  189 

ments  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  and  had  fixed  "the  length 
of  the  tropical  year  with  a  precision  unknown  to  the 
great  philosophers  of  antiquity."  The  women  wreath- 
ed their  hair  with  flowers,  and  some  with  precious  stones 
and  with  })earls  from  the  Gulf  of  California.  Perfum- 
ery was  much  appreciated,  and  the  halls  were  "strewn 
with  odoriferous  herbs."  Their  food  Avas  game,  veget- 
ables, fruits,  meats,  fish,  confections,  pastry,  etc.,  and 
their  drinks  chocolate,  the  juice  of  the  maguey,  etc. 

In  Antiqiun-iitn  of  September,  1879,  "Comparative 
study  of  the  Sanscrit  and  Nahualt,  by  Director  Men- 
doza,  of  the  Mexican  National  Museum,"  is  discussed  : 

"Sr.  !Mendoza  enjoys  a  beautiful  language;  his  expressions  are 
highly  poetical.  lie  is  penetrated  with  the  idea  of  the  unity  of 
human  language,  consequently  of  the  unity  of  the  race.  To 
him  the  Sanscrit  is  the  original  mode  of  speech.  Therefore,  he 
gives  us  nearly  four  pages  of  comparisons  between  Sanscrit  and 
Nahuatl  words.  Some  of  these  are  striking,  while  others  are, 
of  course,  rather  evidences  of  good  and  honest  intention  on  the 
l>art  of  tlie  author,  than  anything  else.  The  whole  subject 
should  be  treated  by  a  thorough  linguist,  (like  ]Mr.  Gatschet,  for 
instance),  who  would  be  better  enabled  to  form  an  opinion 
of  the  real  value  of  Sr.^Iendoza's  observations  and  conclusions." 

The  art  of  writing  was  extensivly  practiced  in  Mexico 
at  the  time  of  the  conquest.  Historians  were  trained 
and  employed  by  the  governments;  but  few  of  their 
books  escaped  the  rampant  zeal  of  the  Spanish  crusaders. 
This  act  of  bigotry  is  deplored  by  every  body  now,  and 
the  world  has  advanced  to  a  partial  recognition  of  the 
demands  of  general  truth;  but  not  to  a  full  recognition. 
The  world's  work  is  still  in  the  keeping  of  specialists. 
The  author,  like  the  politician,  has  to  M'ork  for  a  clique  in 
order  to  be  sure  of  his  support.  A  book  written  with 
the  view  of  doing  justice  to  both  science  and  religion 
is  likely  to  fall  between  two  stools.     But   a  book-burn- 


190  THE  WORLD-STORY 

insf  zeal  is  better  than  no  zeal  at  all.  It  was  under  the 
auspices  of  Bishop  Zumarraga  that  a  vast  collection  of 
these  old  books  was  consumed;  and  "many  were  burned 
at  the  instigation  of  the  monks,"  says  Las  Casas,  "who 
were  afraid  they  might  impede  the  work  of  conversion." 
Zumarraga  had  a  predecessor  in  the  person  of  Ytzcoatl, 
an  Aztec  sovereign  who  destroyed  many  Toltec  books. 
His  aim,  we  are  told  "was,  probably,  to  extinguish 
among  the  people  all  memory  of  the  previous  times." 
These  acts  make  probable  the  history  of  similar  pro- 
ceedings in  Peru.  It  is  probable  that  the  wars  of  Cen^ 
tral  America  were  religious  wars;  and,  as  the  elements 
that  survived  them  were  identical  with  those  that  sur- 
vived the  strife  in  Peru,  we  may  suppose  that  the  con- 
flicts were  continuous,  one  of  the  other.  Most  all  wars 
have  been  religious  issues.  In  the  least  known  interior 
wilds  of  Central  Africa,  are  circumcised  tribes  of  un- 
known his  tory,  involved  in  perpetual  war  with  uncir- 
cumcised  tribes. 

Among  the  important  works  that  missed  the  holy 
flames  is  the  Codex  Chimalpopoca,  a  history  of  the  Tol- 
tecs.  Among  modern  Mexican  writers  the  chief  place 
is  held  by  Ixtlilxochitl.  He  was  the  son  ot  the  last 
kins:  of  Tezcuco,  and  inherited  "all  that  were  saved  of 
the  records  in  the  public  archives."  In  the  fifth  volume 
of  "Native  Races"  is  a  translation  of  Ixtilxochitl's  history 
of  the  Toltecs,  and  from  it  the  following  quotations 
are  made: 

"At  the  end  of  the  first  stage  of  the  world,  or  the  'sun  of  waters,' 
the  earth  was  visited  by  a  flood  which  covered  the  loftiest 
mountains.  After  the  re-peopling  of  the  earth  by  the  descend- 
ants of  a  few  families  who  escaped  destruction  and  the  building 
of  a  tower  as  a  protection  against  a  possible  future  catastrophe 
of  similar  nature,  and  confusion  of  tongues  and  consequent 
scattering  of  the  population— for  all  these  things  were  found  in 


ANCIENT  MEXICANS  191 

native  traditions  l>y  the  Catholic  ingenuity —  seven  families 
speaking  the  same  language  kept  together  in  their  wanderings 
for  many  years;  and  after  crossing  Inroad  lands  and  seas ,  endur- 
ing great  hardships,  they  reached  the  countrv  of  Huehue  Tlap- 
allan,  or  Old  Tlapallan,  which  they  found  fertile  and  pleasant  to 
dwell  in.  The  second  age,  the 'sun  of  air,' terminated  with  a 
great  hurricane  which  swept  away  trees,  rocks,  houses  and  peo- 
ple, although  many  men  and  women  escaped,  chiefly  such  as 
took  refuge  in  caves  which  the  hurricane  could  not  reach.  After 
a  few  days  the  survivors  came  out  to  find  a  multitude  of  apes 
living  in  the  land ;  and  all  this  time  they  were  in  darkness, 
seeing  neither  the  sun  nor  moon.  The  next  event  recorded, 
although  Veytia  makes  it  precede  the  hurricane,  is  the  stop- 
ping of  the  sun  for  a  whole  day  in  his  course,  as  at  the  command 
of  Joshua,  in  the  mythology  of  the  world.  .  .  .  Next  occur- 
red an  earthquake  which  swallowed  up  and  destroyed  all  the 
Quinames  or  giants — at  least  all  who  lived  in  the  coast  regions, 
together  with  many  of  the  Toltecs,  and  of  their  neighbors  the 
Chichimecs.  After  the  desti'uction  of  these  Philistines,  'being 
at  peace  with  all  this  new  world,  all  the  wise  Toltecs,  both  the 
astrologers  and  those  of  other  arts,  assembled  in  Huehue  Tlapal- 
lan, the  chief  city  of  their  dominion,  where  they  treated  of 
many  things,  the  calamities  they  had  suffered,  and  the  move- 
ments of  the  heavens  since  the  creation  of  tlie  world,  and  of 
many  other  things,  which,  on  account  of  their  histories  having 
been  burned,  have  not  been  ascertained,  further  than  M'hat  has 
been  written  here;  among  whicli  they  added  the  bisextile  to 
I'egulate  the  solar  year  with  the  Equinox,  ami  many  other  curi- 
osities, as  will  be  seen  in  their  tables  and  arrangement  of  years, 
months,  days,  weeks,  signs,  and  planets,  as  they  understood 
them.' 

"One  hundred  and  sixteen  years  after  this  regulation  or  in- 
vention of  the  Toltec  calendar,  the  sun  and  moon  were  eclipsed, 
the  earth  shook,  and  the  rocks  were  rent  asunder,  and  many 
other  things  and  signs  happened,  though  there  was  no  loss  of 
life.  This  was  in  the  year  Ce  Calli,  which,  the  chronology  be- 
ing reduced  to  our  system,  proves  to  l^e  the  same  date  when 
Christ  our  Lord  suffered. 

"Three  hundred  and  five  years  later  (A.  D.  338),  when  the 
empire  had  been  long  at  peace,  Chalcatzin  and  Tlacamilitzin, 
chief   descendants    of     the     roval     house    of    the     Toltecs, 


192  THE  WORLD  STORY. 

raised  a  revolt  for  the  purpose  of  deposing  the  legitimate 
successor  to  the  throne.  The  rebellious  chiefs,  were,  after  long 
wars,  driven  out  of  their  city  of  Tlachicatzin  in  Huehuci  Tlapal- 
lan,  with  all  their  numerous  families  and  allies.  They  were 
pursued  by  their  kindred  of  the  city  of  TIaxicoluican,  for  six- 
ty leagues,  to  a  place  discovered  by  Cecatzin,  which  they  named 
Tlapallancongo  or  'little'  Tlapallan.  The  struggle  by  which  the 
rebels  were  conqured  lasted  eight  years —  or  thirteen,  according 
to  Veytia — and  they  were  accompanied  on  their  forced  migra- 
tion by  five  other  chiefs.  The  departure  from  Huehue  Tlapallan 
seems  to  have  taken  place  in  the  fifth  or  sixth  century. 

"They  remained  at  Tlapallan  Congo  three  years,  and  toward  the 
end  of  their  stay  the  seven  chieftains  assembled  to  deliberate 
whether  they  should  remain  there  permanently  or  go  farther. 
Then  rose  a  great  astrologer,  named  Hueman,  or  Huematzin, 
saying  that  according  to  their  histories  they  had  suffered  great 
persecutions  from  heaven,  but  that  these  had  always  been  fol- 
lowed by  great  prosperity;  that  their  persecutions  had  always  oc- 
curred in  the  year  Ce  Tecpatl,  but  that  year  once  passed,  great 
blessings  ensued;  that  their  trouble  was  a  great  evil  immediate- 
ly preceding  the  dawn  of  a  greater  good,  and  consequently  it 
did  not  behove  them  to  remain  so  near  their  enemies.  More- 
over, his  astrology  had  taught  him  that  toward  the  rising  sun 
there  was  a  broad  and  happy  land,  where  the  Quinames  had 
lived  for  many  years,  but  so  long  a  time  had  now  passed  since 
their  destruction  that  the  country  was  depopulated;  besides,  the 
fierce  Chichimecs,  their  neighbors,  rarely  penetrated  those  re- 
gions. The  planet  which  ruled  the  destinies  of  that  new  country 
yet  lacked  many  years  of  carrying  out  its  threats,  and  in  the 
meantime  they  and  their  descendants  to  the  tenth  genera- 
tion might  enjoy  a  golden  and  prosperous  century.  The  threat- 
ening planet  did  not  rule  their  nation,  but  that  of  the  giants,  so 
that  possibly  it  might  do  no  great  injury  even  to  their  descend- 
ants. He  advised  that  some  colonists  be  left  here  to  people  the 
country,  become  their  vassals,  and  in  time  to  turn  upon  their 
enemies  and  recover  their  native  land  and  original  power. 
These  and  other  things  did  Hueman  counsel,  and  they  seemed 
good  to  the  seven  chiefs;  so  that  after  three  years  were  passed, 
or  eleven  years  from  the  time  they  left  Huehue  Tlapallan,  they 
started  on  their  migration. 


AXCIENT  :\rEXICANS  193 

Their  migrations  iucluded  long  sojourns  at  twelve  dif- 
ferent places,  and  tliey  arrived  at  Tollan  one  hundred 
and  four  years  after  their  departure  from  their  country. 
There  is  nothing  in  this  narrative  by  which  to  locate 
'Old'  Tlapallan.  Pedro  Alvarado  writing  from  Old 
Guatemala  in  1524,  announces  his  intention  to  set  out  in 
a  few  months  to  explore  the  country  of  Tlapallan,  which 
he  said  was  in  the  interior,  fifteen  days  march  from  there; 
and  its  capital  was  said  to  be  as  large  as  Mexico.  This 
indicates  a  region  which  might  be  Honduras,  Peten,  or 
Tabasco.  Ixtlilxochitl  applies  the  name  to  a  province 
lying  toward  Honduras;  Bourbourg  applied  it  to  Guate- 
mala. There  is  nothing  on  the  north  to  anwer  to  it. 
The  main  features  of  the  account  are  shadows  of  events 
already  familiar  to  us  as  having  occurred  in  the  Central 
region,  in  the  Votanic  Empire  of  the  Tzendal  traditions, 
and  in  Tamoanchau,  in  the  annals  of  Sahasrun. 

This  is  history  mingled  with  tradition,  beginning 
with  incidents  of  universal  tradition  and  mersrinof  insen- 
sibly  into  the  annals  of  a  wandering  tribe.  It  helps  to 
show  that  after  the  Xibalban  wars  there  was  an  era  cor- 
responding in  character  with,  and  coincident  with,  the 
dark  ages  of  European  annals.  Out  of  it  come  vague  and 
distorted  narrations,  relating  principally  to  wanderings. 
It  is  stated  that  "much  cannot  be  given  on  account  of 
the  histories  having  been  burned. 

There  is  mention  in  this  history  of  depopulated  lands. 
As  Tollan  is  northward  of  Tlapallan,  all  wanderings 
must  have  been  northward.  One  well  determined  item 
is  that  the  astrological  system  of  the  Toltecs  was  iden- 
tical with  that  of  the  Eastern  nations.  It  was  not  Ixitl- 
xochitl's  "Catholic  ingenuity"  that  enabled  him  to  dis- 
course about  the  ruling  of  a  threatening  planet  over  the 
destinies  of  a  country  through  a  definite  period.     These 


194  THE  WORLD-STORY 

are  Old-world  ideas  in  Old-world  phraseology,  and  could 
not  have  been  invented  separately  on  this  land.  All  the 
facts  of  this  volume  go  to  prove  a  common  origin  for 
intricate  and  abstract  ideas  and  theories.  If  the  astro- 
logical system  was  of  foreign  origin,  it  is  another  proof 
that  the  religious  systems  were  of  foreign  origin;  and  the 
alternative  of  this  is  that  each  system  was  revealed  on  both 
sides  of  the  sea.  This  astrological  system  incidentally 
mentioned  by  the  prince  of  Tezcuco,  reveals  the  secret  life 
of  sun  worship  in  America  and  of  paganism  in  all  lands. 
The  identity  of  the  astrological  systems  of  the  two  con- 
tinents explains  many  analogies  in  art  and  architecture 
pertaining  to  them.  As  we  have  found  so  much  of  Old- 
world  thought  in  America,  it  does  not  tax  the  mental  f  ac- 
ulties  to  conceive  of  the  sanguinary  strifes  of  this  land  as 
the  abitrameut  of  old-world  issues.  With  mementoes 
of  Eden  all  over  the  land,  no  wonder  if  here  was  felt 
the  shock  of  the  strife  that  began  there.  Here,  in  a  lit- 
eral sense,  "the  trail  of  of  the  serpent  is  over  it  all." 
Has  the  woman  had  no  representative? 

It  may  be  assumed  for  the  present  that  the   wars   re- 
ferred to  these   traditions  were  a  continental    strife,  in  1 
which  the  old  civilization  was  obliterated;  that  it   was          1 
essentially  the  same  that  was   begun    in    Peru,  and  the           * 
parties  in  the  strife  w^ere  the  true  worshipers    and  their 
old  foes — the  sun  worshipers  and  Masons.     This  latter          1 
term  is  used  in  the  sense  of  an  oath-bound,  secret  order,          | 
and  I  use  the  term  only  because  others  have  furnished  it 
for  me,  though  some  other  name  would  have  suited  me 
better.     Mrs.  Plongeon  in  Harpers,  Avriting  of  Uxmal, 
says  : 

"The  building  on  the  top  consists  of  three  rooms  very  interest- 
ing, for  they  contain  certain  symbols  pertaining  to  Masonic 
rites.    .    .    .    Tlie  portal  to  the  sanctuary  is  the  largest'  among  ; 


ANCIENT  MEXICANS  1«)5 

all  the  ruins.  On  the  cornice  are  Masonic  symbols,  and  on  the 
under  part  of  it  rings  are  cut  in  stone.  A  curtain  was  formerly 
suspended  from  them  to  inclose  the  house  completely,  and  veil 
from  public  gaze  the  mysterious  ceremonies  therein  i)erformed." 

The  Parsees  of  India,  the  geuiue  relics  of  tlie  old 
Chaldean  astrologers,  still  cling  to  the  old  faith.  Their 
highpriest  has  a  divining  cup  like  those  used  in  Egypt 
when  Joseph's  brothers  went  there.  An  American 
Professor  of  the  occult,  Dr.  J.  J.  Stafford,  describes  the 
relic  from  personal  examination,  as  a  silver  cup,  with  a 
transparent  bottom.  This  idea  is  traceable  also  in  the 
ancient  American  system.  Le  Plongeon  found  in  an 
urn  at  Chichen  Itzen,  together  with  some  jade  orna- 
ments, a  ball  of  white  glass.  Mrs,  Le  Plongeon,  in 
Scientific  American,  Aug.  2,  1884,  explains  it  as  follows: 

■'The  ball  of  white  glass  is  very  interesting,  proving  that  those 
people  were  acquainted  with  glass,  and  probably  knew  how  to 
make  it.  At  the  time  of  the  Spanish  conquest  looking  glasses 
were  in  use  among  the  Mayas,  for  the  historians  inform  us  that 
only  the  men  7iscd  them.  ht  *  *  *  * 

"The  H-men  and  X-we«(wise  men  and  women)  use  stones  like 
the  glass  ball  found,  and  in  them  pretend  to  see  hidden  things 
and  coming  events;  so  we  may  presume  that  clairvoyance  was 
known  among  the  Mayas;  and  Bishop  Landa  in  his  work  on 
Yucatan,  tells  us  that  soothsayers,  who  prtend  to  read  futurity, 
formed  part  of  the  priesthood." 

The  overthrow  of  the  Toltec  empire  was  portended 
by  omens,  and  attended  by  cosmical  calamities,  inter- 
necine strife,  spiritual  decline,  demoralization,  unnatur- 
al excess,  and  a  general  conviction  that  the  judgments 
of  God  were  upon  the  people  in  fulfillment  of  prophecy. 

The  conquest  of  the  INIexicans  was  more  by  spiritual 
than  physical  causes.  They  thought  their  prophets  had 
doomed  them  to  their  fate.  They  were  frenzied  by 
fanaticism.  Their  bloody  rites  made  them  a  terror  to 
neighboring  tribes  and  a  horror  to  the  philosophers  of 


196  THE  WORLD  STORY. 

their  own  nationality  and  to  the  Spaniards;  and  Cortez 
preached  continually  to  his  men  that  their  cause  was  a 
crusade.     Mr.  Brownell  says  : 

"The  Tlascalan  nation  in  Mexico  held  a  debate  on  the  arrival 
of  the  Spaniards,  and  ancient  prophecies  were  cited  of  an  in- 
vincible race  that  should  come  from  the  east.  The  remarkable 
fulfillment  in  the  landing  of  those  white  men,  and  of  many  at- 
tendant circumstances  foretold  concerning  the  ships,  arms,  and 
the  valor  and  prowess  of  the  invaders  was  enlarged  upon  by 
them." 

Many  omens  are  noted  in  the  history  of  the  over- 
throw of  the  Cakchiquels  as  well  as  the  Mexicans. 

The  credibility  of  the  Toltec  traditions  is  an  important 
consideration  and  is  discussed  by  Mr.  Short  as  follows: 

"Either  the  Toltecs  were  of  old-world  origin,  and  at  a  remote 
period  treasured  up  among  their  traditional  histories  notices  of 
the  Mosaic  deluge,  traditions  which  are  so  generally  current 
among  the  Asiatic  nations,  or  the  Mexican  traditions  of  local 
inundations  were  warped  by  the  teachings  of  the  Spanish 
priests  in  a  degree  beyond  any  precedent  in  history  or  reason- 
able expectation,  and  that  within  a  comparatively  few  years 
after  the  conquest.  Our  authority  in  this  case  is  a  native 
of  Tescuco,  a  son  of  the  queen ;  and  because  of  his  acquaintance 
with  both  the  hieroglyphic  writings  and  the  Castilian,  served  as 
interpreter  to  the  viceroy.  His  relacions  were  composed  from 
the  achives  of  the  family,  and  compared  with  the  testimony  of 
the  oldest  and  best  informed  natives.  It  does  not  seem  to  us  that 
the  sense  of  historic  integrity  cultivated  to  so  nice  a  point  in 
Tezcuco,  where  the  censorial  council,  just  prior  to  the  advent  of 
the  conquerors,  punished  with  death  any  one  who  shoidd  wil- 
fully pervert  the  truth,  could  have  so  sadly  degenerated  that 
Ixtlilxochitl  and  the  venerable  natives  who  were  conscious  of 
tlie  representations  contained  in  his  work,  should  proclaim  a 
falsehood  which  should  not  meet  with  contradiction." 

Tliose  best  learned  in  antiquarian  lore  are  not  certain 
of  anything  in  relation  to  the  migrations  of  the  ancient 
Americans.  The  problem  is  being  worked  out  gradual- 
ly.    It  will  probably  appear  at  last  that  the  original 


ANCIENT  MEXICANS  197 

migrations  were  from  south  to  nortli,  and  then  back 
from  the  north  at  a  later  era.  The  turmoil  meant  by 
the  overflow  of  Xibalba  was  the  intervening  period  of 
desolation,  leaving  all  the  Central  and  Mexican  lands 
open  for  settlement.  The  Toltec  records  date  the  Avar 
period  in  their  annals  at  A.  D.  338;  after  which  time 
they  had  a  pilgrimage  which  they  confound  with  the  or- 
iginal pilgrimage  of  remote  ancestors  from  their  former 
Tollan,  beyond  the  sea,  and  even  with  a  still  remote 
pilgrimage  of  predecessors  from  the  Tower.  As  for  the 
Aztecs — while  they  are  of  the  same  stock  as  other  more 
cultivated  tribes,  it  is  probable  that  they  wandered  as 
savages  for  many  years  in  the  north  and  got  most  of 
their  civilization  after  coming  into  Mexico. 

jMr.  Baldwin,  contemplating  these  difficulties,  says : 

"It  is  probable  that  the  Colhuas  and  Nahuas  or  Toltecs  of  the 
old  books  and  traditions,  together  with  the  Aztecs,  were  all 
substantially  the  same  people.  They  established  in  the  country 
three  distinct  family  groups  of  language,  it  is  said,  but  the  actual 
significance  of  this  difference  in  speech  has  not  been  fully  de- 
termined, These  unlike  groups  of  language  have  not  been  suf- 
liriontly  analyzed  and  studied  to  justify  us  in  assuming  tliat 
they  did  not  all  come  from  the  same  original  source,  or  that 
there  is  a  more  radical  difference  between  them  than  between 
the  Slavonic,  Teutonic,  and  Scandinavian  gi'oups  in  Europe. 
These  ancient  Amcrit-ans  were  distinct  from  each  other  at  the 
time  of  the  conquest,  but  not  so  distinct  as  to  show  much  dif- 
ference in  tjieir  religious  ideas,  their  mythology,  their  ceremo- 
nies of  worship,  their  method  of  building,  or  in  the  general 
character  of  ther  civilization.  -x-  *  *  * 

"It  has  sometimes  been  assumed  that  the  Aztecs  came  to 
^Mexico  from  the  north,  Init  there  is  nothing  to  warrant  this 
assumption,  nothing  to  make  it  probable,  nothing  even  to  ex- 
plain the  fact  that  some  persons  have  entertained  it.  People 
of  the  ancient  Mexican  and  Central  American  race  are  not  fouud 
fartlier  north  than  New  ^Mexico  and  Arizona,  where  they  are 
known  as  Pueblos,  or  Village  Indians.     In  the  old  time  that 


198  THE  ^yORLD-STORY 

was  a  frontier  region,  and  the  Pueblos  seem  to  represent  ancient 
settlers  who  went  from  the  south. 

"Of  the  Nahua  predecessors  of  the  Toltecs  in  Mexico,  the 
Olmecs  and  Xicolancans  were  the  most  important.  They  were 
the  forerunners  of  the  great  races  that  followed.  According  to 
Ixtlelxochitl,  these  people — which  are  conceded  to  be  one— occu- 
pied the  world  in  the  third  age ;  they  came  from  the  east  in  ships 
or  barks  to  the  land  of  Potonchan,  which  they  commenced  to 
populate." 

Mr.  Maury  says : 

"It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  we  find  in  America,  traditions 
of  the  deluge  coming  infinitely  near  to  those  of  the  Bible  and  the 
Chaldean  religion  than  among  any  people  of  the  Old  World.  It  is 
difficult  to  suppose  that  the  immigration  that  certainly  took 
place  from  Asia  into  North  America  by  the  Kourile  and  Aleu- 
tian Islands,  and  still  does  so  in  our  day,  should  have  brought 
in  these  memories,  since  no  trace  is  found  of  them  among  those 
Mongol  or  Siberian  populations  which  were  fused  with  the 
natives  of  the  New  World.  .  .  .  The  attempts  that  have 
been  made  to  trace  the  origin  of  Mexican  civilization  to  Asia 
have  not  yet  led  to  any  sufficiently  conclusive  fact.  Besides, 
had  Buddhism,  which  we  doubt,  made  its  way  into  America,  it 
could  not  have  introduced  a  myth  not  found  in  its  own  scrip- 
tures. The  cause  of  these  similarities  between  the  deluvian 
traditions  of  the  nations  of  the  New  World  and  that  of  the  Bible 
remain  therefore  unexplained." 

"The  most  important  among  the  American  traditions,  [says 
Lenormant],  are  the  Mexican,  for  they  appear  to  have  been 
definitely  fixed  by  symbolic  and  mnemonic  paintings  before 
any  contact  with  |Europeans.  According  to  these  documents, 
the  Noah  of  the  Mexican  cataclysm  was  Coxcox,  called  by  cer- 
tain peoples,  Teocipactli  or  Tezpi.  He  had  saved  himself,  to- 
gether with  his  wife,  Xochiquetzal,  in  a  bark,  or,  according  to 
other  traditions,  on  a  raft  of  cypress  wood  [the  gopher  wood  of 
the  Bible].  Paintings  retracing  the  deluge  of  Coxcox  have 
been  discovered  among  the  Aztecs,  IMiztecs,  Zapotecs,  Tlascaltecs 
and  Mechoacaneses.  The  tradition  of  the  latter  is  still  more 
strikingly  displayed  in  conformity  with  the  story  as  we  have  it 
in  Genesis,  and  in  Chaldean  sources.  It  tells  how  Tezpi  embark- 
ed in  a  spacious  vessel  with  his  wife  and   children  and  several 


ANCIENT  MEXICANS  199 

animals,  and  grain  whose  preservation  was  essential  to  the  sub- 
sistence of  the  human  race.  When  the  great  god,  Tezcatlipoca, 
decreed  that  the  water  should  retire,  Tezpi  sent  a  vulture 
fi-om  the  bark.  The  bird,  feeding  on  the  carcasses  with  which 
the  earth  was  laden,  did  not  return.  Tezpi  sent  out  other 
birds,  of  which  the  humming  bird  only  came  back.  Then 
Tezpi,  seeing  that  the  country  began  to  vegetate,  left  his  ark  on 
the  mountain  of  Colhuacan. 

"The  document,  however,  that  gives  the  most  valuable  in- 
formation as  to  the  cosmogony  of  the  INIexicans  is  known  as 
Codex  Vaticanus,  from  the  library  in  which  it  is  preserved.  It 
consists  of  four  symbolic  pictures,  representing  the  four  ages  of 
the  world  preceding  the  actual  one.  They  were  copied  at  Cho- 
lula  from  a  manuscript,  anterior  to  the  conquest,  and  accompa- 
nied by  the  explanatory  commentary  of  Pedro  de  los  Rios,  a 
Dominican  monk,  who,  in  1560,  less  than  fifty  years  after  the  ar- 
rival of  Cortez,  devoted  himself  to  the  research  of  indigenous 
traditions  as  being  necessary  to  his  missionary  work." 

The  flood  legend  is  sculptured  on  the  great  calendar 
stone  in  the  city  of  Mexico,  which  was  made  before  the 
time  of  the  Conquest. 

In  Delafield's  work  is  an  ancient  Mexican  picture  re- 
presenting, unmistakeably,  the  Bible  story  of  Cain  and 
Abel.  Kingsborough  says:  "The  Toltecs  had  paint- 
ings of  a  garden  with  a  single  tree  standing  in  the 
midst;  around  the  root  of  the  tree  is  entwinend  a  ser- 
pent w^hose  head  appearing  above  the  foliage  displays 
the  face  of  a  woman."  The  Mexican  interpretation  of 
the  picture  was  that  it  represented  the  first  woman,  &c. 

The  Mexicans,  like  the  Jews,  burned  incense;  they  an- 
nointed  the  body;  practiced  circumcision,  and  "they  had 
the  same  laws  concerning  the  purification  of  women,  the 
same  laws  concerning  intercourse,  slaves,  divorce,  mar- 
riage, and  kept  the  Ten  Commandments."  They  offered 
water  to  strangers  to  wash  their  feet.  They  practiced 
baptism.  They  believed  in  the  resurrection  of  the  body. 
They  believed  in  one  Supreme  God,  and  in  his  subordinate 


200  THE  WORLD-STORY 

angels;  in  Satan  and  his  legions.     "The  painting  of  Bot- 
urini  seems  actually  to  represent  Huitzilopoctli    appear- 
ing in  a  buruino;  bush  in  the  mountain  of  Teoculhuacan," 
Says  Kingsborough: 

"It  is  impossible  when  reading  what  Mexican  mythology  re- 
cords of  the  war  in  heaven  and  of  the  war  of  Zontemonqiie  and 
the  other  spirits;  of  the  creation  of  light  by  the  word  of  Tona- 
caticutli,  and  of  the  division  of  the  waters;  of  the  sins  of  Yztla- 
ohuhqui,  and  his  blindness  and  nakedness;  of  the  temptation 
of  Suchiquecal,  and  her  disobedience  in  gathering  roses  from  a 
tree,  and  the  consequent  misery  and  disgrace  of  herself  and  all 
her  posterity  , —  not  to  recognize  Scrijstural  analogies.  But  the 
Mexican  tradition  of  the  Deluge  is  that  which  bears  the  most 
unequivocal  marks  of  having  been  derived  from  a  Hebrew 
source.  This  tradition  records  that  a  few  persons  escaped  in  the 
Ahuehuete,  or  ark  of  fir,  when  the  earth  was  swallowed  up  by 
the  deluge,  the  chief  of  whom  was  named  Patecatle  or  Cipa- 
quetona;  that  he  invented  the  art  of  making  wine;  that  Xelua, 
one  of  his  descendants,  at  least  one  of  those  who  escaped  with 
him  in  the  ark,  was  present  at  the  building  of  the  high  tower, 
which  the  succeeding  genei'ation  constructed  with  the  view  of 
escaping  from  the  deluge  should  it  again  occur;  that  Tonacate- 
cutle,  incensed  at  their  presumption,  destroyed  the  tower  with 
lightning,  confounded  their  language  and  dispersed  them;  and 
tliat  Xehia  led  a  colony  to  the  New  World."  Mex.  Antiq.  tom.  vi. 

Confession  and  penance  were  practiced  in  Mexico;  the 
priesthood  was  hereditary;  there  were  vestal  virgins, 
pledged  to  celibacy  under  penalty  of  death.  The 
Mexicans  divided  the  year  into  eighteen  months  of  thir- 
ty days  each,  and  added  five  intercalary  days.  This  is 
not  the  ancient  system,  and  is  doubtless  the  one  formed 
by  the  Toltecs  while  wandering,  yet  the  majority  of  the 
names  of  the  twenty  days  of  the  month  are  those  of  a 
zodiac  used  by  all  the  ancient  Asiatic  nations.  The  priests 
of  Mexico  directed  the  training  of  children;  they  con- 
secrated marriages,  comforted  the  sick  and  dying  and 
absolved  sinners;  their  vows  required  the   forfeiture  of 


ANCIENT  3IEXICANS  201 

their  lives  for  any  violation  of  their  obligations;  they 
were  forbidden  to  marry;  they  lived  according  to  the 
severest  rules  of  morality,  prayer,  fasting,  flagellation, 
preaching,  etc.  There  were  convents  not  unlike  those 
of  the  present  day  in  the  same  localities.  There  were 
orders  of  monks  in  addition  to  the  regular  j)riesthood. 
Sacrifice  and  atonement  for  sin  were  believed  in  and 
practiced.  The  Mexicans  had  an  ark,  the  abiding  place 
of  God,  and  too  sacred  to  be  touched  by  any  one  but  a 
priest.  At  the  time  of  naming  a  child  they  sprinkled 
its  lips  and  bosom  with  water  and  "the  Lord  was  im- 
plored to  permit  the  holy  drops  to  wash  away  the  sin 
that  was  given  it  before  the  foundaton  of  the  world." 
Mr.  Bancroft  describes  their  baptism  of  infants,  thus: 

"The  midwife  gave  the  child  to  taste  of  the  water,  put- 
ting her  moistened  finger  into  its  mouth,  and  said,  'Take  this; 
by  this  thou  bast  to  live  on  the  earth,  to  grow  and  to  fiourisli; 
through  til  is  we  get  all  things  that  support  life  on  the  earth;  re- 
ceive it.'  Then  with  moistened  fingers  she  touched  the  breast 
of  the  child,  and  said,  'Behold  the  pure  water  that  washes  and 
cleanses  thy  heart,  that  removes  all  filthiness;  receive  it;  may 
the  goddess  see  good  to  i)urify  and  cleanse  thy  heart.'  Then 
the  midwife  poured  water  upon  the  head  of  the  child,  saying, 
'0,  my  grandson — my  son — take  this  water  of  the  Lord  of  the 
world,  which  is  thy  life,  invigorating  and  refreshing,  washing 
and  cleansing,.  I  pray  that  this  celestial  water,  blue  and  light- 
blue,  may  enter  into  thy  body  and  there  live;  I  pray  that  it  may 
destroy  in  thee  and  put  away  from  thee  all  the  things  evil  and 
adverse  that  were  given  thee  before  the  beginning  of  the  world. 
.  .  .  ."Wheresoever  thou  art  in  this  child,  0  thou  hurtful  thing, 
begone;  leave  it,  put  thyself  apart;  for  now  does  it  live  anew, 
and  anew  is  it  born;  now  again  is  it  purified  and  changed;  now 
again  is  it  shaped  and  engendered  by  our  mother,  the  goddess 
of  water," 

According  to  Charnay  tlie  religion  of  the  Toltecs  was 
pure  and  simple.  They  sacrificed  only  fruits  and  flow- 
ers according  to  the  instructions  of     Quetzalcoatl,  tlieir 


202  THE  WORLD-STORY 

god.  They  used  the  cross  extensively.  Carved  on  their 
monuments,  are  lions  and  elephants.  They  seem  to  have 
had  horses,  sheep  and  cattle,  as  fossilized  bones  of  these 
animals  have  been  found  by  Mr.  Charnay  at  Tula. 

According  to  a  note  in  vol.  iii.  of  Explorations  for  a 
Railroad  Route  from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Pacific: 

"Many  Indians  of  the  Zuni  tribe  are  white.  They  have  a  fair 
skin,  blue  eyes,  chesnut  or  auburn  hair,  and  are  quite  good 
looking.  They  claim  to  be  full-blooded  Zunians,  and  have  no 
tradition  of  inter-niarriage  with  any  foreign  race.  The  circum- 
stance creates  no  surprise  among  this  people,  for  from  time 
immemorial  a  similar  class  of  people  has  existed  among  them." 

The  above  account  brings  unsettled  questions  to  view. 
Albinos  are  numerous  among  the  Moquis  and  part  of 
them  have  blue  eyes,  but  the  description  of  the  Zunians 
will  not  apply  to  Albinos.  The  Yaquis,  of  Northern 
Mexico,  or  part  of  them,  are  described  as  dark-skinned, 
but  having  sandy  whiskers  and  blue  eyes. 

The  Indians  of  the  Parian  Gulf  have  "fair  hair." 
On  an  ancient  vase  found  at  Tula  a  bearded  figure 
grasps  a  beardless  figure  by  the  arm.  In  Mexico  were 
tribes  of  reddish  olive,  and  individuals  of  light  complex- 
ion, and  the  conquerors  said  many  of  them  were  indis- 
tinguishable from  some  Europeas.  When  Brasseur  de 
Bourbourg  was  surrounded  wdth  his  Indians  of  Rabinal, 
he  could  imagine  himself  among  so  many  Arabs,  because 
that  in  appearance  they  were  the  same.  It  is  no  viola- 
tion of  the  probabilities  to  suppose  that  the  ancestors  of 
these  men  supplied  the  Arabic  elements  in  the  languages 
of  Peru. 

Mrs.  Le  Plongeon  in  article  before  noticed,  writing 
at  Chichen  says: 

"At  the  noi'th  end  of  the  gymnasium  there  is  a  structure  that 
may  very  well  have  been  a  box  from  whicli  the  royal  family 
witnessed  the  games.    .    .    The  back  wall  and  sides  of  this  box 


ANCIENT  MEXICANS  203 

are  covered  with  bass-reliefs  that  do  great  credit  to  the  dead  and 
forgotten  artists.  They  represent  human  figures  in  various 
dresses  and  attitudes,  and  landscape.  There  is  one  face  with 
Semetic  features  and  full  beard.  There  is  not  the  least  doubt 
that  a  bearded  race  dwelt  here,  for  many  bearded  men  are  carv- 
ed in  stone,  and  nearly  all  seem  to  be  in  the  act  of  worshiping." 

Desire  Charnay,  in  N.  A.  Review,  Jan.  1881,  says; 
"The  Toltecs  were  fair,  robust  and  bearded." 

The  conclusion  that  harmonizes  the  facts  and  conflicts 
with  no  one  of  them  is,  that  there  Avas  in  Mexico  a  pre- 
toltec  nation,  of  the  Hebrew  race  and  Hebrew  faith, 
probably  the  same  that  are  represented  in  the  histories 
by  the  name,  Nahoas. 

The  myths  of  the  eastern  continent  have  always  been 
underrated,  as  the  facts  in  this  book  attest.  What  was 
held  in  skeptical  disfavor  by  those  who  made  up  the 
world's  verdicts,  have  proved  to  be  wonderful  realities. 
So  the  myths  and  distorted  traditions  of  the  Western 
World  hold  truths  that  are  vaster  and  grander  than  have 
been  conceived  of.  One  of  the  lessons  gained  is  that 
God  is  not  a  tutelar  divinity,  as  the  ancients  imagined, 
and  as  the  moderns  are  slow  to  unlearn.  His  cause  in 
the  earth  is  not  local.  He  has  fixed  the  bounds  of  the 
habitations,  and  the  nations  are  running  their  appointed 
courses  under  a  general  providence;  and  in  these  myths 
we  may  see  that  all  have  had  knowledge,  not  only 
of  him  but,  from  him.  It  ought  not  be  a  puzzle  to  the 
philosopher  to  find  God  in  the  codices  and  monuments 
on  this  side  of  the  sea,  in  view  of  what  has  been  learn- 
ed of  like  nature  beyond  the  sea. 

The  Aztecs  were  a  degraded  race  compared  with 
tlieir  predecessors,  yet  tliere  were  poets,  orators  and 
philosopliers  among  them,  as  their  literature  abundantly 
proves.     We  must  of  logical    necessity  admit  their  per- 


204  THE  WOELD-STORY 

sistent  claim  to  common  ^descent  from  the  Patriarchs. 
The  student  of  the  near  future  will,  by  comparing  these 
legends  and  deciphering  more  of  the  documents,  unfold 
the  great  world-truths  now  so  tauntingly  glinted  forth. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


THE    MOUXU-MEX 


The  monuments   of  the  ancient  races  are  continuous 
from  Mexico,  through  Texas,  to  the  mound  region  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley.     Beginning  at  the  northern  limit  we 
find  that  the   fortifications  in  Western  New  York  have 
been  a  theme  of  discussion  fi'ora  the    time  of    their  dis- 
covery till  the  present.       Squier  decided  that  they  were 
entirely  the  works  of   the  "Red  Indians."     There  were 
traces  of  wooden  palisades  on  the  tops  of   the  ridges  of 
earth,  and  it  was  therefore   supposed  that  the    Iriquois 
had  occupied  them.       AVhittlesey,  writing  later,  attribu- 
uted  their  construction  to  a  people  antei'ior  to  the   Red 
Indians.     Foster  and  Short,  the  latter  latest,  pronounce 
them,   with  some    explanations,  works  of  the    Mound 
builders — whatever  that  may  mean;  and  they  are  called 
the  frontier  works  of  the  Mound-builders.     The  copper 
mines  of  Isle    Royal,  in  Lake  Superior,    were    worked 
extensively  and  to  a   great  depth  in  prehistoric  times. 
The  great  lakes  make  a  pretty   well  defined    northern 
boundary    of    the     ancient   domain.    The    Apalachian 
chain  is  its  eastern  boundary.     The  western  border  did 
not  extend  much  beyond  the  Mississippi,  but  is  not  well 
defined.     In  the  Ohio   valley  are  multitudinous  heaps 
that  commemorate   the   densest  populations;  there    are 
most  conspicuous  the  temple  mounds  that  attest  the  uni- 
versality   of    the  instinct  of  worship;  there  are  most 


206  THE  WORLD-STORY 

numerous  the  enclosures  devoted  to  the  games  and  cer- 
emonies of  a  prosperous  people,  and  there,  more  espe- 
cially, are  great  lines  of  fortifications  and  look-outs 
that  tell  of  protracted  war.  It  has  been  observed  that 
the  same  sagacity  that  chose  the  site  for  the  Queen 
City  of  the  West,  covered  it  at  a  former  time  with  cir- 
cumvaliations  and  mounds. 

The  graded  ways  near  Piketown  are  similar  to  the 
double  stone  walls  of  Grand  Chimu,  Peru,  but  neither 
Avork  is  understood. 

The  military  works,  aside  from  those  mentioned  of 
Western  New  York,  are  fortified  eminences  and  mounds 
which  served  as  lookouts.  The  most  remarkable  of  the 
former  class  is  Fort  Ancient,  on  the  Little  Miami,  built 
upon  an  eminence  two  hundred  and  thirty  feet  above 
the  stream,  with  a  circuit  of  works  five  miles  in  extent, 
providing  room  for  "60,000  soldiers  and  their  familes." 
It  was  one  of  a  line  of  works  extending  across  the  state, 
and  is  supposed  to  have  served  to  check  the  inroads 
of  savages  from  the  north,  but  as  there  were  similar 
fortifications  in  Tennessee,  the  incursions  may  have 
come  from  that  direction.  Squier  and  Davis  were  first 
to  observe  and  report  a  "sytem  of  defenses,  extending 
from  the  sources  of  the  Alleghany  and  Susquehanna  in 
New  York,  diagonally  across  the  country,  through  Cen- 
tral and  northern  Ohio  to  the  Wabash."  "Within  this 
range,"  say  they,  "the  works  which  are  regarded  as  de- 
fensive are  largest  and  most  numerous."  Mr.  Short  de- 
scribes the  mounds  that  are  called  look-outs,  which  ex- 
tend throughout  all  the  works,  and  says:  "The  Mound- 
builders,  in  the  latter  period  of  their  occupancy,  when 
apprehensive  of  danger  from  their  enemies,  employed 
a  system  of  signal  telegraph." 

Many  enclosures   that  have  been  classed  as   military 


MOUND-MEN  207 

have  the  trench  inside  of  the    embankment,    suggesting 
the  symbolism  of  the  sacred  mount. 

The  works  at  Newark  are  the  most  magnificent. 
Mr.  Squire  says  of  them: 

"Covered  with  the  gigantic  trees  of  a  primitve  forest,  the 
Avork  trulj-  presents  a  gi'and  and  impressive  appearance:  and  in 
entering  tlie  ancient  avenues  for  tlie  first  time,  tlie  visitor  does 
not  fail  to  experience  a  sensation  of  awe,  such  as  he  might 
feel  in  passing  the  portals  of  an  Eg3^ptian  temple,  or  in  gazing 
upon  the  ruins  of  Petra  in  the  desert." 

The  ancient  Tennesseeans  buried  some  of  their  dead 
in  stone  coffins;  many  of  the  skeletons  measure  six  feet; 
one  is  described  as  of  immense  length.  The  southern 
part  of  the  Mississippi  yalley  is  studded  with  mounds. 
Seltzertown  is  a  m.ound  as  large  as  that  of  Tahokia,  with 
smaller  ones  on  its  top,  something  like  Meru.  The 
mounds  of  the  southwest  present  such  striking  affinities 
with  those  of  Mexico  that  the  question  of  identity  is  no 
longer  discussed;  they  extend  continuously  and  estab- 
lish an  actual  union. 

The  general  contents  of  the  mounds  are  disappointing; 
hammered  copper,  stone  ornaments  and  rude  cloth  are 
not  in  kee})ing  with  the  vast  military  works  described. 
There  must  be  something  not  yet  revealed,  as  partially 
manifested  by  the  discovery  of  brass,  including  frag- 
ments of  helmets,  at  Scipio,  N.  Y.  (Priest's  Antiquities, 
p  254).  Bronze  statues  have  been  found  in  Central 
America;  the  Toltecs  used  bronze;  these  facts  give  impor- 
tance to  the  following  account  of  a  discovery  at  Marietta: 

"Lying  immediatly  over  or  on  the  forehead  of  tlie  body 
were  found  throe  large  circular  ornaments,  or  ornaments  fin*  a 
sword-belt  or  buckler;  they  are  composed  of  copper,  overlaid 
with  a  thick  plate  of  silver.  The  fronts  are  slightly  convex, 
with  a  depression  like  a  cup  in  the  center,  and  they  measure 
two  inches  and  a  quarter  across  the  face  of  each.    On  the  back 


208  THE  WORLD-STORY 

side,  opposite  tlie  depressed  portion,  is  a  copper  rivet  or  nail, 
around  whicli  are  two  sepai'ate  plates  by  whieli  they  were  fas- 
tened to  the  leather.  Two  small  pieces  of  leather  were  found 
lying  between  the  plates  of  one  of  the  bosses;  they  resemble  the 
skin  of  a  mummy,  and  seem  to  nave  been  prserved  by  the  salts 
of  the  copper.  Near  the  side  of  the  body  w^as  found  a  plate  of 
silver,  which  appears  to  have  been  the  upper  part  of  a  sword 
scabbard;  it  is  six  inches  in  length,  two  in  breadth,  and  Aveighs 
one  ounce.  It  seems  to  have  been  fastened  to  the  scabbard  by 
three  or  four  rivets,  the  holes  of  which  remain  in  the  silver. 
Two  or  three  pieces  of  copper  tube  were  also  fovmd,  filled  with 
iron  rust.  These  pieces,  from  their  appearance,  composed  the 
lower  end  of  the  scabbard,  near  the  point  of  the  sword.  No 
signs  of  the  sword  itself  were  discovered,  except  the  rust  above 
mentioned." 

Mr.  Squire  lias  added  his  criticism  as  follows: 
"These  articles  have  been  critically  examined,  and  it  is  beyond 
doubt  that  the  copper  bosses  were  absolutely  plated,  not  overlaid, 
with  silver.  Between  the  copper  and  the  silver  exists  a  connec- 
tion such  as,  it  seems  to  me,  could  only  be  pi-oduced  by  heat, 
and  if  it  is  admitted  that  these  are  genuine  i-elics  of  the  Mound- 
builders,  it  must  at  the  same  time  be  admitted  that  they  i)os- 
sessed  the  difficult  art  of  plating  one  metal  upon  another.  There 
is  but  one  alternative,  viz.  that  they  had  occasional  or  constant 
intercourse  with  a  people  advanced  in  the  arts,  from  whom  these 
articles  were  obtained.  Again,  if  Dr.  Hildreth  is  not  mistaken, 
oxydized  iron  or  steel  was  also  discovered  in  connection  with  the 
above  remains,  from  which  follows  the  extraordinary  conclu- 
sion that  the  Mound-builders  were  acquainted  Avith  the  useof 
iron,  the  conclusion  being,  of  course,  subject  to  the  improbable 
alternative  already  mentioned." 

The  discovery  at  Newark  of  a  Masonic  keystone,  in- 
scribed with  Hebrew  letters,  would,  if  acknowledged 
as  genuine,  serve  to  connect  the  stone  pyramid  and  oth- 
er works  at  Newark,  with  the  Hebrew  speech  and  Ma- 
sonic emblems  in  Central  and  South  America;  but  faith 
in  Wyrick's  find,  like  Wyrick's  self,  lies  in  its  tomb. 
Whittlesey  saAv  the  stone  the  hour  it  was  found  and  before 
it  was  cleaned,  and  certified  to  its  genuineness  and  to 


:\Ior^'D-MEN  20.1 

its  antiquity  and  to  the  antique  form  of  the  letters; 
but  he  afterward  reversed  his  decision  without  explana- 
tion, and  all  on  both  continents  who  had  followed  him 
up  the  hill  followed  him  down  again. 

In  the  report  of  Davenport  Academy  for  1882  is  an 
interpretation  of  tablets  found  in  a  mound  in  that  vicini- 
ty, that  confirms  the  conclusions  arrived  at: 

"The  tablets  Nos.  I.,  Ill,  IV.,  contain  nearly  200  characters, 
of  which,  however,  16  occur  several  times.  The  remaing  150 
or  more  different  figures,  the  human  and  animal  delineations 
not  being  taken  into  the  account,  demonstrate  that  the  i)rimi- 
tive  inhabitants  of  the  country  did  not  use  the  simple  Noachian 
alphabet  of  twenty-five  letters,  but  a  great  number  of  syllabic 
signs,  originated  from  the  said  alphabet,  as  was  and  and  still  is 
the  case  in  Egypt,  Japan,  Corea,  China  and  Central  Africa. 

"The  harmony  of  Iowa,  of  Mexican,  and]  of  South  Ameri- 
can characters,  puts  it  beyond  question  that  all  the  primitive 
inhabitants  of  America  must  have  descended  from  the  same 
aboriginces. 

"Plate  I.  shows  a  sacrificial  festivity.  The  fire  and  flame  up- 
on a  hill  are  apparent.  The  top  of  the  hill  is  encompassed  by 
a  stone  wall.  .  .  The  sacrifice  is  offered  to  the  sun  and  the 
moon  and  the  twelve  great  gods  of  the  starry  heavens.  .  .  . 
It  is  evident  that  the  North  American  Indians  formerly  wor- 
shiped the  seven  planets  and  twelve  signs  of  the  Zodiac,  i.  e., 
the  twelve  great  gods  of  the  nations  of  antiquity. 

"Plate  II.— It  is  a  well  known  fact  that  the  history  of  the  Del- 
uge has  been  preserved  amongst  the  most  different  nations  of 
America,  and  the  universality  of  the  Noachian  inundation  of 
the  globe  ha'?  been  placed  beyond  the  reach  of  controversy  by 
an  excellent  treatise  of  Paiana.  .  .  On  a  Mexican  temple  the 
deluge  was  represented  by  the  image  of  an  immense  ocean,  bear- 
ing a  single  boat  occupied  only  by  a  male  and  a  female.  Instead 
of  a  dove,  already  forgotten  by  the  ancient  Mexicans,  a  hum- 
ming l)ir(l  returns  with  the  olive  leaf.  .  .  In  contemplating 
the  Davenport  tablet  what  do  we  find?  First  we  distinguish 
thirty  or  more  animal.«,  well  known  in  the  pre.-ent  world,  of 
which  the  most  interesting  is  the  elephant,  not  at  all  domestic 
in  .America.     A  number  of  the.«e  animals  appear  inchided  in  two 


210  THE  WORLD-STOKY 

large  cases,  intersected  with  lattice- work.  In  the  midst  of  these 
animals  we  see  a  patriarch  with  the  sceptre  in  his  hand,  and 
behind  him  a  sitting  woman;  apai*t  from  these  we  notice  three 
other  men,  and  three  likewise  sitting  women,  but  scattered 
among  the  animals. 

"Plate  III. — This  tablet .  .  represents  a  planetary  configu- 
ration, the  twelve  signs  of  the  Zodiac,  known  to  all  nations  of 
old,  and  the  seven  planets,  conjoined  with  six  different  signs.  .  . 
The  figures  of  the  signs  are  the  same  which  we  find  depicted 
on  Egyptian,  Greek,  Roman  and  other  monuments.  .  .  The 
signs  Aries,  Taurus,  Gemini,  are  plain  enough.  Gemini  is  ex- 
pressed by  two  sitting  children,  like  the  constellation  of  Gemi- 
ni, at  present  Castor  and  Pollux.  Cancer  is  expressed  by  the 
head  and  shears  of  the  animal.  Leo  and  Virgo  are  likewise 
natui'ally  delineated;  and  Virgo,  as  it  seems  to  me,  bears  in  her, 
hand  Spica.  The  same  is  to  be  said  of  the  figures  of  Libra 
Scorpio  and  Sagitarius.  The  latter  is  expressed  by  a  1)0W  and 
arrow,  being  nearly  invisible.  Cai:)ricornus  was,  as  we  learn 
from  the  astronomical  monuments  of  the  Egyptians,  a  species 
of  antelope,  and  the  same  animal,  though  a  little  deformed,  re- 
sembles our  Capricornus.  xVquarius  and  Pisces  explain 
themselves,  for  the  former  was  on  ancient  monuments  very  of- 
ten symbolized  by  an  amphora.  .  .  .  These  short  lines  placed 
below  Pisces,  Gemini,  Virgo  and  Sagitarius  argue  that  at  that 
time;  at  the  beginning  of  spring,  the  sun  stood  in  Pisces.  .  . 
It  being  known  that  in  1579  B.  C. ,  the  sun  entered  the  constel- 
lation of  Aries  on  the  day  of  the  vernal  equinox,  our  planetary 
configuration  may  have  been  observed  before  the  year  1579  B.  C. 
The  result  will  certanly  be  confirmed  so  soon  as  the  astronomi- 
cal signification  of  the  Nos.  2,  3,  5, 9, 11,  12,  will  have  been  fixed 
by  other  researches,  which  is  not  imjoossiljle.  -»        *        *        * 

''Plate  VIII.  is  a  memorial  of  a  great  eclipse  of  the  sun.  *  * 

"Results: 

1.  The  primitive  inhabitants  of  America  were  no  pre-adam- 
ites,  nor  oft'spring  of  the  monkeys,  but  Xoachites. 

2.  They  belonged  to  the  same  nation  l)y  which  Mexico  and 
South  America  were  populated,  after  the  dispersion  of  the  na- 
tions in  1590.  B.  C. 

3.  The  literature  of  the  American  Indians  evidences  that  thej' 
imigi'ated  from  Japan  or  Corea  or  proper  China. 


MOrXD-:MEX  211 

4.  They  must  have  come  over  prior  to  the  year  1570  B.  C. 

5.  Our  Indians,  as  well  as  those  in  Mexico  and  South  Ameri- 
ca knew  the  liistory  of  the  deluge,  especially  that  Xoah's  family 
then  consisted  of  eight  persons. 

0.  The  primitive  inhabitants  of  America  were  much  more 
civilized  than  our  present  Indians. 

7.  The  former  undei-stood  the  art  of  writing  and  used  a  great 
many  syllabic  characters,  Ijased  upon  the  Noachian  alphaljet, 
and  wrote  from  left  to  the  right  hand,  like  the  Chinese. 

8.  They  were  acquainted  with  the  seven  planets  and  the  twelve 
signs  of  the  zodiac,  and  they  referred  the  same  stars  to  the  same 
constellations  as  did  the  Chaldeans,  Egyptians,  Greeks,  Romans 
and  others. 

9.  They  had  solar  yeai-s  and  solar  months,  even  tweh'o  hours 
of  each  day.  They  knew  the  cardinal  points  of  the  Zodiac,  and 
cardinal  days  of  the  year^ 

10.  Their  religious  creed  was  that  of  the  Babylonians,  Egyp- 
tians, Assyrians,  Greeks,  Eomans,  &.c.,  because  they  worshiped 
the  planets  and  the  twelve  gods  of  the  Zodiac  by  sacrifices." 

Three  of  the  characers  on  these  tablets  are  almost  iden- 
tical with  three  in  an  unread  inscription  on  a  bronze  celt 
described  by  J.  Lubbock. 

Some  persons  Avliose  positions  require  that  they  should 
object  to  the  above  report  now,  or  forever  hold  their 
peace,  have  risen  and  objected;  but  with  the  many 
concordant  facts  before  it,  it  falls  into  line  without  a 
shock.  It  prepares  the  Avay  for  another  piece  of  evi- 
dence that  is  like  a  red  flag  in  a  p?o.:a  (?e  toros 

In  consideration  for  those  who  have  no  criterion  but 
respectability  and  authority,  INlr.  Bancroft's  statement 
is  given.  After  describing  Hebrew  relics  found  at 
Pittsfield  he  says:  "The  other  discovery  was  made  in 
Ohio,  and  was  seen  by  my  father,  Mr.  A.  A.  Bancroft, 
who  thus  describes  it: 

'"About  eight  miles  south-east  of  Newark  there  was  formerly 
a  large  mound  comjjosed  of  masses  of  freestone,  which  had  been 
brought  from  s(jme  distance  and  thrown  into  a  heap   without 


212  THE  WORLD-STORY 

much  placing  or  care.  In  early  days,  stone  being  scarce,  the 
settlers  carried  away  the  mound  i^iece  by  piece,  to  use  for  building 
purposes,  so  that  in  a  few  years  there  was  little  more  than  a  large 
flattened  heap  of  rubbish  remaining.  Some  fifteen  years  ago, 
the  county  surveyor  (I  have  forgotten  his  name),  who  had  for 
some  time  been  seai'ching  ancient  works,  turned  his  attention  to 
this  particular  pile.  He  employed  a  number  of  men  and  pro- 
ceeded at  once  to  open  it.  Before  long  he  was  rewarded  by 
finding  in  the  center  and  near  the  surface  a  bed  of  the  tough 
clay  generally  known  as  pipe  clay,  which  must  have  been 
brought  from  a  distance  of  some  twelve  miles.  Imbedded  in 
the  clay  was  a  coffin,  dug  out  of  a  burr  oak  log,  and  i»  a  pretty 
good  state  of  preservation.  In  the  coftin  was  a  skeleton,  with 
cjuite  a  number  of  stone  ornaments  and  emblems,  and  some 
brass  rings,  suitable  for  bracelets  or  anklets.  These  being  re- 
moved, they  dug  deeper,  and  soon  discovered  a  stone  dressed 
to  an  oblong  shape,  about  eighteen  inches  long  and  twelve 
thick,  which  proved  to  be  a  casket,  neatly  fitted  and  completely 
water-tight,  containing  a  slab  of  stone  of  hard  and  fine  quality, 
an  inch  and  a  half  thick,  eight  inches  long,  four  inches  and  a 
half  wide  at  one  end,  and  tapering  to  three  inches  at  the  other. 
Upon  the  face  of  the  slab  was  the  figure  of  a  man,  apparently  a 
,  priest,  with  a  long  flowing  beard,  and  a  robe  reaching  to  his 
feet.  .Over  his  head  was  a  curved  line  of  characters,  and  upon 
the  edges  and  back  of  the  stone  were  closely  and  neatly  carved 
letters.  The  slab,  which  I  saw  myself,  was  shown  to  the  Epis- 
copalian clergyman  of  Newark;  and  he  pronounced  the  writing 
to  be  the  Ten  Commandments  in  ancient  Hebrew.' " 

The  Prophetic  Watchman,  after  describing  a  Hebrew 
relic  said  to  have  been  found  in  Wilson's  mound,  near 
Newark,  and  also  the  Masonic  emblem  before  noticed, 
describes  the  one  generally  known  as  the  Decalogue 
stone,  as  follows: 

"The  last  relic  is  an  object  of  much  interest.  It  was  found  in 
18G0  and  has  engraven  upon  it  a  figure  of  Moses,  and  the  Ten 
Commandments.  One  side  is  depressed  and  the  reverse  pro- 
trudes. Over  th»  figure  there  is  a  Hebrew  word  signifying  ']Mo- 
ses.'  The  other  inscriptions  are  almost  literally  the  words 
found  in  some  parts  of  the  Bible,  and  the  Ten  Commandments 


MOUND-MEN  213 

arc  given  in  i^art  an«I  entirely — the  longest  being  abbreviated. 
The  alphabet  used,  it  is  thought,  is  the  original  Hebrew  one,  as 
there  are  letters  known  in  the  Hebrew  alphabet  [not]  now  in 
use,  but  bearing  a  resemblance  to  them.  All  things  on  this 
stone  point  to  the  time  l)efore  Ezra,  to  the  lost  tribes  of  Israel, 
and  the  theory  is,  that  some  one  of  these  tribes  found  their  way 
into  this  continent,  and  settled  where  the  state  of  Ohio  now  ex- 
ists." 

What  foUoAVS    is  from  the  hraelite  JndteJ,  May  1861, 
published  at  New  York,  and  edited  by  Dr.  Lederer: 

"We  suppose  that  many,  if  not  most  of  our  readers  have  seen, 
in  religious  as  well  as  secular  papers,  the  accounts  of  some  relics 
which  were  found  a  few  months  ago  in  a  mound  near  Newark, 
Ohio.  These  relics  consist  of  stones,  in  strange  shapes,  bearing 
Hebrew  inscriptions,  which  makes  the  case  particularly  interest- 
ing to  me,  as  a  Hebrew.  I  have  read,  therefore,  with  great  in- 
terest, all  that  has  been  published  concerning  them,  and  studi- 
ed the  opinions  of  different  men  of  science  and  learning,  who 
have  expressdthem  in  public;  but  I  desired  to  see  the  objects 
themselves,  to  put  my  finger  on  the  relics  which  bear  inscriptions 
in  the  holy  language  which  once  was  written  with  the  finger 
of  God  upon  tables  of  stone  ;  a  language  written  and  spoken  by 
the  i)rophets  of  Israel,  who  predicted  the  main  features,  not  only 
of  the  history  of  Israel,  but  also  of  the  world  at  large.  It  is  one 
of  the  peculiar  and  national  characteristics  of  the  Jews  to  feel  a 
sacred  awe  for  that  language,  and  even  for  "the  square  charac- 
ters" in  which  it  is  written,  so  that  every  written  or  printed 
Hebrew  page  is  called  "Shemos,"  by  which  the  people  mean  to 
say,  a  ])aper  on  which  holy  names  are  printed  or  written.  A 
pious  Jew  would  never  use  any  Hebrew  book  or  paper  for  any 
secular  purpose  whatever,  and  carefully  picks  up  every  bit  and 
burns  it.  Being  now,  by  the  grace  of  God,  an  "Israelite  Indeed," 
believing  in  Him  concerning  whom  Moses  and  the  prophets 
did  write,  that  sacred  language  has  increased  in  its  c-harming 
influence  upon  my  mind;  this  may  explain  my  desire  to  see 
tho.se  relics  with  the  Hebrew  inscriptions,  without,  however,  en- 
tertaining the  least  hope  of  ever  having  that  wish  realized. 
Tliis  time,  however,  I  was  gladly  disappointed;  for,  in  calling  a 
few  days  ago  on  my  friend,  Mr.  Tiieodorc  Dwight,  (the  Record- 
ing Secretary  of  the  "American  Ethnological  Society,"  and   my 


214  THE  WORLD-STORY 

associate  in  the  editorship  of  this  Magazine),  my  eyes  met  with 
the  very  objects  of  my  desire.  That  I  examined  these  antiqui- 
ties carefully,  none  of  our  readers  will,  I  think,  entertain  any 
doubt.  I  recognized  all  the  letters  excejjt  one,  (the  ayhi), 
though  the  forms  of  many  of  them  are  different  from  those  now 
in  use.  This,  however  is  not  the  case  with  the  stone  found 
first,  (viz.,  in  July  1860)  which  has  the  form  of  an  ancient  jar, 
bearing  Hebrew  inscriptions  on  its  four  sides,  which  are  in  per- 
fectly such  characters  as  those  generally  in  use  now.  I  can 
not  form  any  opinion  concerning  the  use  or  meaning  of  this, 
which  was  found  first,  as  the  inscriptions  do  not  lead  to  any  sug- 
gestions whatever.  They  are  as  follows:  1.  "Debar  Jehovah^ 
(meaning  the  Word  of  Jehovah).  2.  "Kodesh  Kodeshim''"  (The 
Holy  of  Holies).  2.  "Thorath  Jehovah;'  (The  Law  of  Jehovah), 
and  4.    "Melek  AretzJ'  (King  of  the  Earth). 

"What  was  it  intended  for?  Is  it,  as  some  suppose,  a  relic  of 
Free-masonry?  We  can  not  concur  with  that  idea,  because  the, 
first  question  which  would  suggest  itself  to  our  mind  is:  How 
did  this  relic  get  into  a  mound  of  the  ancient  Indians?  and 
that,  too,  at  such  a  considerable  depth,  and  altogether  singular? 
We  must  leave  the  solution  of  this  problen  to  after  days,  when 
men  of  industry  and  love  for  antiquities  shall  perhaps  succeed 
in  discovering  more  relics,  by  whicli  the  present  ones  may  find 
an  explanation. 

"This,  however,  is  not  the  ease  with  that  before  mentioned 
which  was  found  on  the  first  of  November,  last  [I860].  It  is  evi- 
dent— at  least  to  my  mind — that  the  writer,  or  carver,  intended 
to  perpetuate  the  essence  of  the  Divine  law,  which  could  not  have 
been  done  in  a  better  way  than  by  engraving  it  on  a  stone,  of 
such  a  nature  as  should  be  able  to  resist  all  influences  of  the 
destroying  tooth  of  time.  It  is  also  evident  to  my  mind,  that 
the  writer  was  not  a  Jew  or  an  Israelite  as  some  suppose,  but  a 
proselyte,  one  who  had  been  taught  by  a  Hebrew,  and  perhaps 
converted  to  abandon  his  idols,  to  believe  in  one  living  and  in- 
visible God,  and  to  keep  his  commandments.  My  reasons  for 
believing  the  writer  not  to  have  been  a  Jew,  are  briefly  these: 
1.  The  veneration  which  the  Hebrews  of  all  classes  pay  to  the 
Holy  Scriptures  and  particularly  to  the  five  books  of  Moses,  is 
so  great  that  the  slightest  alteration,  even  of  a  point,  is  consider- 
ed sinful;  and  the  roll  from  which  they  read  in  the  synagogue. 


MOUND-MEN  21-) 

in  which  is  found  any  alteration,  transposition  of  letters,  or 
incorrectness — as,  for  instance,  a  cheth  instead  of  a  hay^  must  be 
immediately  laid  by,  and  not  allowed  to  be  used,  until  corrected. 
A  Hebrew,  therefore,  who  knew  how  to  write  the  Ten  Com- 
mandments, would  have  either  written  them  properly  or  not  at 
all;  and  as  there  are  many  mistakes  in  that  engraving;  son:e 
letters  entirly  wanting,  some  transposed,  and  some  superfluous, 
I  conclude  that  the  writer  was  not  a  Hebrew.  2.  The  order,  or 
rather  disorder,  in  which  the  Ten  Commandments  are  engrav- 
ed — of  which  we  have  nothing  of  a  similar  kind  elsewhere — 
proves  that  the  author  was  not  a  Hebrew.  3.  The  presence  of 
a  human  figure,  however,  is  the  strongest  objection  against  the 
sui^position  that  the  writer  was  a  Hebrew.  Though,  in  more  re- 
cent times,  after  the  invention  of  printing,  the  Jews  began  to 
imitate  the  gentiles,  in  having  the  figures  of  Moses,  Aaron,  Da- 
vid, and  Solomon  on  the  title  pages  of  their  printed  Bibles  and 
l)rayer-books;  yet,  in  ancient  days— the  age  when  this  stone 
must  have  been  prepared — no  Hebrew  would  have  dared  to 
carve  any  human  figure,  even  that  of  Moses,  in  connection  with 
the  Ten  Commandments.  That  this  figure  led  to  a  fatal  mistake, 
is  evident  in  the  fiict,  that  the  Reverend  and  learned  John  W. 
^McCarty,  of  Newark,  Ohio,  who  first  deciphered  and  read  the 
inscription,  read  the  word  Mo^he—"slo%Q^ — over  the  head  of  the 
figure,  in  connection  with  the  next  line  on  the  bass-relief,  com- 
mencing: "Who  brought  thee  out  from  the  laml  of  Egypt;"  thus 
making  ^Moses  instead  of  Jehovah,  the  the  real  deliverer  of  Is- 
rael. 

'The  discovery  of  that  very  remarkable  antiquity  confirmed 
me  in  my  opinion,  not  that  the  aboriginees  of  America 
are  of  Hebrew  descent,  but  that,  at  some  remote  age  and  in 
some  unknown  way,  one  or  more  pious  and  distinguished  He- 
brews came  over  to  this  continent,  became  the  teachers  of  some 
of  the  wild  tribes  of  of  America,  and  thus  introduced  not  only 
the  knowledge  of  the  true  and  living  Jehovah,  but  to  some  ex- 
tent Jewish,  or  rather  Mosaic,  rite.i  and  ceremonies  also.  This, 
I  think,  is  the  real  reason  why,  after  the  invasion  of  this  conti- 
nent by  the  priest-ridden  and  fanatic  Spaniards  and  Portuguese, 
so  many  things  resembling  Judaism,  and  the  belief  in  one  who 
came  to  enlighten  them,  departed  and  promised  to  come  again, 
was  found  among  the  southern  tribes  of  Indians,  and  all  pic- 


214  ^  THE  WORLD-STORY 

tares,  engi'avings  and  signs  of  it  were  destroj'ed  by  supersti- 
tious jiriests  and  monks. 

"One,  or  a  number  of  those  believing  Indians,  seeing  that,  in 
the  absence  of  their  teachers,  the  people  were  falling  gradually 
back  into  their  old  pagan  habits,  became  alarmed,  and  fearing 
that,  in  a  short  time,  all  would  be  forgotten  and  lost,  concluded 
to  preserve  the  essence  of  the  faith,  at  least,  by  engraving  it  on  a 
table  or  stone.  They  did  it  to  the  best  of  their  kowledge  of  the 
Hebrew  writing,  as  well  as  of  the  construction  of  the  passage. 

"The  form  of  the  characters  is  neither  the  modern  Hebrew, 
(adopted  by  the  High  council  in  consequence  of  the  fact  that 
the  "Cuthiyiun,"  or  Samaritans,  adopted  the  ancient  Hebrew), 
nor  is  it  the  Samaritan,  which  shows  again  that  the  writer  or 
writers  had  already  forgotten  much.  Of  one  thing,  however,  I 
am  morally  convinced:  that  this  stone  is  a  genuine  relic  of  an- 
tiquity, as  it  would  be  a  greater  difficulty  to  believe  in  the  inven- 
tion of  such  a  strange  mixture  of  chai'acters,  disorder  of  combi- 
nation, and  innocent  blunders,  than  to  believe  it  the  handi- 
work of  one  long  passed  away." 

It  is  time  Mr.  Wyrick  should  be  heard;  the  following 
is  the  text  of  an  illustrated  pamphlet  he  published: 

"Representation  of  the  two  stones  with  characters  inscribed 
upon  them,  that  were  found  by  D.  Wyrick,  during  the  summer 
of  1860,  near  Newark,  Ohio: 

The  following  is  a  representation  of  the  four  sides 
of  the  supposed  key-stone  that  was  found  on  the  29th  day 
of  June,  1860,  in  a  sink  or  depression,  commonly  denominated 
well-holes,  whilst  looking  for  human  bones  that  said  holes  were 
said  to  contain.  The  object  of  looking  for  human  bones  was  to 
ascertain  the  truth  of  such  assertion.  This  stone  is  in  the 
shape  and  size  represented  by  the  cuts,  and  has  upon  each  of 
the  four  sides  a  Hebrew  ins«ription  in  Hebrew  character,  which 
when  translated  reads:  "The  King  of  the  Earth;"  "The  Word 
of  the  Lord;"  "The  Laws  of  Jehovah;"  "The  Holy  of  Holies." 

"The  following  four  cuts  are  those  of  the  four  sides  of  a  very 
singular  stone  found  encased  in  a  stone  box  buried  some  twenty 
feet  in  the  earth,  or  in  the  earth  of  a  tremendous  stone  mound. 
This  stone  was  found  on  the  first  day  of  November,  1861,  in 
oxjmpany  with  five  others  while  examining  the  condition  and 
character  of  a  bed  of  fire-clay  that  was  found  beneath  a  portion 


MOUXD-MEN  21f  "7 

of  this  stone  mound  after  it  had  been  mostly  removed,  for  pro- 
tection purposes,  to  banks  of  canal  and  reservoir. 

"In  tlie  lirst  place,  in  removing  this  stone  pile  which  was 
said  to  have  been  forty  or  fifty  feet  high,  rising  from  a  base 
Avhose  diamerer  is  182  feet,  some  of  the  work  hands  came  to  a 
mound  of  pure  clay,  of  which  they  say  there  was,  or  is,  quite  a 
luimber  situated  just  within  the  periphery  of  this  stone  base, 
entirely  around  it,  and  all  covered  up  from  view  by  this  enor- 
mous stone  stack.  But  in  this  one,  while  digging  out  some  very 
suitable  flat  stones  for  protection,  and  that  seemed  to  l)e  im- 
beded  in  this  clfj-,  they  found  something  like  the  shell  of  an 
old  log,  on  which  lay  seven  copper  rings,  with  the  appearance  of 
some  extremely  coai"se  cloth.  This  was  shown  to  several  and 
talked  of  for  some  days,  then  another  porson  was  induced  by 
curiosity  to  make  some  further  examinations.  He  removed  this 
old  shell,  and,  in  doing  so,  found  that  it  appeared  to  be  the  cov- 
er of  another  piece  of  timber  resembling  a  large  wooden  trough. 
In  this  he  also  found  some  of  the  apparently  coarse  cloth.  In- 
deed, he  sa^'s  that  it  appeared  to  him  as  if  the  whole  interior  of 
the  trough  had  been  lined  with  this  material,  but  it  was  so  rot- 
ten as  to  utterly  prevent  securing  a  piece  as  large  as  his  thumb- 
nail. He  also  found  within  this  trough  or  log,  a  parcel  of  hu- 
man bones,  a  locket  of  very  fine  black  hair  about  six  or  eight 
inches  long,  and  ten  of  those  copper  rings,  identical  with  those 
found  upon  the  cover  or  the  lid.  He  then  covered  it  all  over 
again,  taking  with  him  however,  the  rings,  as  auriferous, 
and  saying  little  about  the  matter.  The  place  remained  at 
rest  for  several  years,  w'hen,  in  July,  last  (1800),  I  happened  to 
see  a  piece  of  the  wooden  structure  and  four  of  the  rings;  and 
learning  that  the  piece  of  timber  in  which  they  were  found  was 
still  in  the  earth,  under  the  prospect  of  procuring  an  ancient 
sarcophagous,  not  Egyptian  nor  Phtenician,  but  American,  I 
rei)aired  to  the  place  with  some  work-hands  and  sacrilegiously 
took  it  up.  From  tlie  appearance  of  the  i)lace  I  stated  that  it 
had  been  laid  in  a  concave  basin  made  of  impervious  clay  pur- 
jwsely  to  receive  it.  This  was  thought  by  some  to  be  rather 
doiil)tful  from  the  cursory  examination  I  had  made,  and  that 
mure  thorough  examination  would  slunv  othi'rwise.  Determin- 
ed therefore  to  know  the  true  condition  of  tlie  jdace,  I  resolved 
to  make  the  examination  satisfactory  the   very   first    time  I 


218  THE  WORLD-STORY 

should  be  at  the  i^lace  with  men  and  tools  to  do  so.  Time  rolled 
away  from  July  until  the  first  day  of  November  before  I  met 
with  an  opportunity  to  put  my  threat  into  execution.  The 
place  had  become  all  filled  up  again  by  the  natural  tumbling 
down  of  the  loose  stones,  and  the  running  over  it  by  the  cattle, 
&c.,  so  that  it  took  three  of  us  working  hard  from  early  in  the 
morning  till  nearly  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  to  reach  the 
clay-bed  with  suflicent  removal  of  the  detritus  to  effect  the  ex- 
amination desired.  When  the  matter  of  controversy  had  been 
settled  by  finding  things  as  I  had  reported,  one  of  the  party 
(Dr.  Nichol)  proposed  ascertaining  the  thickffess  of  the  clay 
strata,  and  accordingly  we  dug  a  hole  into  it.  This  showed  it  to 
be  a  bed  of  very  tough  fire-clay,  of  the  color  of  putty,  that  has, 
from  appearances,  never  been  disturbed  since  the  day  it  was  put 
there.  It  appeared  to  be  a  strata  of  about  two  feet  in  thickness, 
and  from  near  the  under  surface,  imbedded  in  this  clay, 
the  stone  box  (a  representation  of  which,  as  to  size  and 
shape,  is  given  on  the  last  page  of  this  pamphlet)  was  taken 
whilst  digging  in  the  hole  thus  made  in  the  clay,  in  which 
was  encased  an  inscribed  stone  of  a  block  color,  and,  as  is  shown 
by  the  following  four  cuts  of  the  four  sides  of  it,  with  the  char- 
acters on  each  side,  the  English  of  which  appears  to  be  an 
abridgment  of  the  Ten  Commandments. 

"The  translation,  as  given.by  Rev.  J.  W.  McCarty: 
'"Moses  (this  word  appears  above  the  head  of  the  image)  who 
brought  thee  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt  and  out  of  the  house  of 
servants.  I  am  Jehovah,  thy  God.  There  shall  not  be  to  thee 
Gods  other  than  me  before  me.  Thou  shalt  not  make  for  thy- 
self a  graven  image.  Thou  shalt  not  bow  down  to  them,  nor 
worship  them.  Thou  shalt  not  take  the  name  of  Jehovah,  thy 
God,  in  vain.  Remember  the  Sabbath  day  to  stand  by  it;  the 
six  of  days  thou  shalt  do  all  thy  work.  Honor  thy  fiither 
and  thy  mother.  Thou  shalt  not  murder.  Thou  shalt  not 
commit  adultery.  Thou  shalt  not  steal.  Thou  shalt  not  bear 
false  witness  against  thy  neighbor.  Thou  shalt  nor  covet  thy 
neighbor's  house.  Thou  shalt  not  covet  thy  neighbor's  wife, 
nor  his  servant,  nor  his  maid,  nor  his  ox,  nor  his  ass,  nor  any- 
thing that  is  his.' 

"would  it  not  require  a  very  profound  scholar  in  Hebrew  to 
make  such  an  abridgment  of  the  Hebrew  Decalogue,    with 


MOUND-MEN  219 

foreign  characters  as  is  made  alx)ve? — better  by  far  tlian  ain- 
we  havoever  known  to  have  ])een  Avith  us,  except  the  clergy, 
and  of  these  we  would  not  dare  to  loresume  that  any  one  know- 
ing the  Hebrew  would  ever  think  of  being  guilty  of  so  pre- 
sumptions an  act?  Bacon's  arrant  school  boy,  borrowing  a  He- 
brew Bible,  even  in  Ohio,  of  some  minister,  and  whittling  a 
hone-stone  into  gin  bottles  (Bacon's  Life  elixir)  forever,  with 
all  the  jack-knives  in  Christendom,  could  not  produce  (even  in 
Ohio)  such  an  outrage  or  piece  of  scholarship." 

The  age  of  the  key-stone  is  a  doubtful  point.  Mr.  J.  J. 
Benjamin,  Dr.  Lilienthal  and  W.  L.  Cunningham,  said 
the  letters  of  the  inscrscriptioji  were  of  the  time  of  Ezia. 
The  concessions  made  a  few  pages  back  were  i^remature. 
The  science  of  archaeology  is  not  complete  withov:*^  the 
key-stone.  Wyrick  builded  better  than  he  knew.  Mr. 
Whittlesey's  first  statements  were  made  before  the  mists 
of  prejudice  had  clouded  his  noble  mind.  He  wrote  in 
the  Oliio  Farmer,  in   1860,  as  follows: 

"Examining  it  (the  Holy  Stone),  and  hastily  brushing  off  the 
dirt,  he  (Wyrick)  saw,  to  his  great  surprise,  that  it  had  on 
its  sides,  plainly  engraved  characters.  Somewhat  excited,  he 
rubbed  oft'  more  of  the  adhering  soil,  and  the  revealed  charac- 
ters were  large  and  distinct,  and  are  the  ancient  Hebrew.  The 
form  of  the  stone  is  that  of  a  truncated  pyramid,  with  a  rectangu- 
lar base  of  two  inches  by  one  and  a  half,  and  rising  about  five 
inches.  It  is  of  compact  quartz,  brownish-yellow  in  color,  every 
part  of  the  stone  being  smoothly  ground  and  polished.  .  The 
stone  is  evidently  ancient,  as  well  as  all  the  marks  upon  it." 

In  a  lecture  at  Monroeville,   Ohio,  in    186-3,  Mr.  W. 
said: 

"I  found  ^Ir.  AVyrick  to  be  a  great  enthusiast  on  the 
sul)jcct  of  the  mounds,  who  spent  nuicli  of  his  time  making 
excavations  amongst  them;  was  i)hysically  much  disabled  by 
rheumatism,  from  which  he  suftered  intensely.  His  lingers 
were  swollen  and  distorted,  and  his  feet  so  enlarged  as  to  render 
them  useless.  He  is  whf)lly  a  self-taught  man,  in  many  resi)ects 
a  man.of  genius.  When  he  was  alile  to  get  about  he  surveyed 
lands,  having  been  the  county  surveyor.    In  his  hund^le  home 


216  THE  WOELD-STORY    . 

were  many  relics  he  had  disentombed  from  the  earth-works 
of  Licking  county,  to  which  I  sliall  make  further  reference. 
Mr.  Dille,  who  has  known  him  fi-om  a  child,  has  full  confidence 
in  his  statements.  He  states  that  the  idea  of  deception  is  out 
of  the  question.  "Mr.  W.  was  a  man,"  he  said,  "who  might  l^e 
easily  imposed  upon,  but  who  would  not  play  the  part  of  de- 
ceiver himself." 

In  a  letter  to  the  writer,  of  July  12tli,  1884,  he  says: 

"I  doubt  if  any  one  has  spent  more  time  in  the  last  fifty  years 
in  visiting,  examining  and  surveying  the  earth  mounds  of 
Ohio,  and  their  relics,  and  in  intercourse  with  residents  of 
their  vicinity,  than  I  have.  My  convictions  are  the  result  of 
observation,  not  of  theory,  my  own  or  other's.  I  was  in  Newark, 
Ohio,  June  29th,  1860,  when  Wyrick  produced  his  first  inscrib- 
ed stone.  Generals  Wool  and  Dille  and  myself  took  him  and 
his  boy  into  a  buggy  immediately  and  went  to  the  spot  where 
he  said  the  Holy  Stone  was  found,  of  which  I  have  a  fac-simile 
tracing  he  made  forme.  He  had  spit  upon  it  tobacco  juice,  and 
rubbed  off  most  of  the  earth,  but  some  remained  in  the  grooves 
yet.  I  thought  the  sijrroundings  indicated  an  age  of  about 
fifty  years.  It  was  taken  to  a  Hebrew  scholar,  the  Reverend 
Mr.  McCarty,  in  town,  who  read  the  inscription  and  said  the 
characters  were  of  the  12th  century,  A.  D.,  and  that  the  stone 
was  a  Masonic  emblem,  called  the  keystone,  on  which  the  ow- 
ner could  inscribe  such  matter  as  he  chose.  I  am  neither  a 
modern  nor  a  Hebrew  scholar.  One  side  was  Kodash  Kodasheem; 
another  was  Torah  and  a  word  for  .Jehovah;  then  Malach  Araiz^ 
or  Eretz,  and  the  other,  Debah  Jehovah.  Mr.  McCarty's  reading 
was  substantially  the  same  as  that  of  Jewish  scholars:  Holy  of 
Holies;  Law  of  God;  King  of  the  Earth,  is  Most  Holy,  or  the 
Word  of  God.  Our  belief  then  was  that  Wyrick  had  found 
it  as  reported,  and  that  since  the  historical  period  it  had  been 
lost  or  buried  there,  in  the  center  of  one  of  those  circular  exca- 
vations common   in  the  old  earth-works. 

It  was  not  until  more  than  a  year  afterward  that  suspicion 
fell  on  Wyrick,  when  he  produced  the  stone  box,  the  eftigy 
of  Moses,  and  tlie  Ten  Commandments,  from  an  excavation  be- 
neath the  great  stone  mound  near  Jacktown,  Licking  Co.,  Ohio. 
He  was  regarded  by  his  neighbors  as  a  very  singular  man,  who 
had  a  theory  that  the  Jews  constructed  our  ancient  works  and 


:\rorND-:MEx  2w> 

that  Moses  was  once  in  this  country.    On  this  subject   lie  was 
ahnost  wild. 

"Since  then  I  have  repeatedly  been  in  that  country,  and 
after  many  years  of  inquiry  am  convinced  that  he  fabricated 
both  stones." 

In  tract  No.  53.  ]\Ir.  W.  adds: 

"Dr.  Nichols  discredited  the  antiijuity  of  the  inscriI)od  stone 
and  the  box,  and  stated  that  Wyrick  had  been  there  alone,  be- 
fore he  invited  the  party  to  go  with  him.        *        *        *        * 

"At  Newark  more  credit  wa.s  given  to  the  statements  of  Wyrick 
than  of  Nichols,  which  so  annoyed  the  latter  that  he  fabricated 
two  or  more  specimens,  to  show  how  easih'  people  could  be  de- 
ceived. *  **  **'**** 

"On  the  part  of  the  supporters  of  the  genuiness  of  the  John- 
son find-!,  they  point  to  the  bad  reputation  of  Nichols  for  verac- 
ity." 

The  Johnson  find,  referred  to,  is  a  smaller  keystone, 
inscribed  in  old  Hebrew,  found  in  1867  beneath  the 
stone  mound,  and  reported  to  the  congress  at  Nancy. 

One  more  fact  makes  up  the  case:  MacLean,  following 
Whittlesey,  bases  his  indictment  of  Wyrick  upon  the 
discovery  of  a  Hebrew  Bible  among  his  "valuable  relics." 
If  it  contained  such  characters  as  the  inscriptions,  he 
ought  have  said  as  much,  and  then  shown  how  such 
combinations  as  Lederer  describes  could  be  got  out  of 
it  by  an  "uneducated  man"  or  any  other.  This  proof 
is  a  boomerang.  Wyrick  did  not  copy  and  could  not 
invent.  We  must  keep  to  the  facts.  Lederer  says: 
"The  form  of  the  characters  is  neither  the  modern  He- 
brew nor  the  Samaritan;  .  .  the  writers  had  forgotten 
much".  The  language  was  undergoing  change,  and  the 
changes  resulting  on  this  continent  were  not  identical  with 
those  on  the  other — what  else  can  Lederer  mean?  He 
calls  the  mixture  ot  characters  an  invention,  and  strange, 
and  speaks  of  the  disorder  of  the  combination;  all  of 
which  shows  that  the  inscription  was  not  patterned  af- 


222  THE  WORLD-STORY 

ter  anything  extant.  These  are  statements  of  an  unbi- 
ased and  capable  man.  One  or  more  of  a  people  who 
had,  by  their  isolation  forgotten  much,  in  forms  that  are 
strange,  give  the  essence  of  the  faith  according  to  their 
ability  to  contruct  the  passages.  Of  the  order  in 
which  the  commandments  ai'e  given  he  says:  "We  have 
nothing  of  the  kind  elsewhere."  Wyrick  underrated  the 
strength  of  his  case  when  he  conceded  that  the  clergy  had 
sufficient  learning  to  invent  such  a  composition. 

That  man  of  a  "bad  reputation  for  veracity,"  inis- 
took  the  scent.  He  thought  to  made  the  case  turn  on 
his  ability  to  manufacture  relics.  By  this  he  gave 
away  his  cause.  His  strong-hold  should  have  been  in 
proving  or,  at  least,  asserting  that  the  tough,  compact, 
imj^ervious  fire-clay  described  by  Wyrick,  had  been  dis- 
turbed. Having  feared  and  failed  to  do  that,  he  missed 
his  only  chance  for  savory  notoriety,  and  it  is  impossible 
for  him  to  whittle  his  way  out  of  a  predicament  that  is 
bad — even  in  Ohio. 

Some  authors  think  that  the  truncated  mounds  and 
pyramids  of  Ohio  exhibit  the  gradual  growth  of  the 
ideas  fully  realized  in  the  superior  structures  of  Mexico 
in  a  later  age,  but  there  is  no  proof  that  the  rudest 
mounds  are  older  than  the  finest  temples.  The  facts 
tend  to  the  opposite  conclusion;  for  while  at  Tula  the 
bones  of  cattle  and  horses  are  fossilized,  the  palisades  of 
western  New  York  endured,  undecomposed,  till  historic 
times.  Perhaps  the  moundbuilders,  being  an  agricultu- 
ral people,  remote  from  the  seats  of  wealth  and  empire, 
performed  the  national  ceremonies  in  a  less  extravagant 
way  than  their  brethren  of  the  south.  There  is  no  evi- 
dence of  the  migration  to  the  southward  at  any  age, 
either  gradual  or  hurried.  Toltecs  may  be  a  misnomer, 
Nahoas  is  better.     The  people  meant  are  they  who  used 


3iorxD-]MEx  22:5 

bronze  and  iron,  and  had  cattle  and  liorses,  and  white 
faces.  All  the  migrations,  as  seen  in  former  chapters, 
Avere  from  the  soutli.  The  expulsions  were  from  the 
south;  the  indistinct  legends  concerning  the  overthrow 
of  Xibalba  and  of  the  Colhuans,  and  other  pre-toltec  na- 
tions, probably  involved  the  fate  of  the  Mound-builders. 
Chichimecs,  means  barbarous  hordes.  We  can  not  sup- 
pose that  such  tribes  occupied  the  cold  north  so  long 
ago,  and  there  are  no  forts  anywhere  southward.  One 
point  may  be  insisted  upon — the  retreat  was  northward. 
The  route  is  marked  by  fortifications  and  not  by  temple 
mounds.  In  Tennessee  they  fought;  in  Ohio  they  made 
their  great  struggle  and  fell  back;  in  Western  Xew 
York  was  their  final  stand;  there  their  works  end;  there 
they  vanish  from  sight. 

An  acquaintance,  H.  A.  Stebbins,  heard  an  educated 
Seneca  Indian  lecture  near  Decatur,  Michigan,  in  June, 
1868,    and   from    notes    taken    at  the    time,    published 

an  account,  from  which  the  following  extracts  are 
made: 

"He  was  a  ]\Iethc)(list  preacher.  .  .  He  had  a  cliart  repre- 
senting the  traditions  mentioned,  appeared  honest  in  liis  state- 
ments, and  was  evidently  lecturing  as  a  speculation,  not  realiz- 
ing what  truths  he  told. 

"lie  I)cliovt.Ml  tliat  they  were  descendants  of  Israel,  and  cliil- 
drenofthe  East;  tliat  wlien  they  die,  or  at  some  future  time, 
they  would  return  to  that  country,  just  over  wliicli  the  .spirit 
land  is,  or  was. 

"The  Aztecs  liad  a  tradition  of  a  wise  and  good  king,  who 
lived  in   a  golden  palace.      Hard   questions   were  ]nit  to  tlie 
king,  l)ut  he  never  failed  to  answer  wisely,     .      .     The  name  of 
tlie  city  oftliis  king,  in  Cherokee,  was  Taginlali. 

"Their  traditions  were  that  it  was  tiie  will  of  God  that  they 
should  journey  to  a  strange  land  and  far  country.  Their  leader 
was  a  man  of  stature  of  al)out  the  height  of  eight  and  a  half 
feet.  He  saw  the  (Jreat  Spirit  face  to  face,  talked  witli  liim, 
and  had  revelations  from  lum  to  guide  them  on   tiieir  journey. 


222     ^  THE  WORLD  STORY. 

A  pillar,  or  guide  of  some  kind  , went  before  them,  while  with 
them  they  had  a  box  containing  precious  stones,  which  none 
were  permitted  to  use  except  those  appointed  to  their  charge. 
They  journeyed  for  over  a  year,  at  least,  before  they  came  to  the 
great  water  at  which  they  received  a  revelation,  as  tradition 
states,  and  a  narrow  path  was  formed  across  the  water.  A 
southward  course  of  1,500  miles  brought  them  to  a 
race  of  people  who  were  of  greater  height,  and  lived  in  large 
towns  and  cities.  A  war  ensued,  and  the  first  people  were  de- 
stroyed.    The  latter  then  came  to  the  land  of  the  Aztecs. 

"An  Obijway  legend  placed  the  time  when  these  people,  or 
Indians,  inhabited  this  land  to  2,500  years  ago;  and  a  legend  of 
theirs  or  the  former  people,  stated,  that  they  had  knowledge  of 
the  Egyptians,  of  their  pyramids  and  manner  of  building. 

"The  lecturer  said  he  might  refer  to  150  words  closely  resem- 
bling the  Hebrew,  the  Seneca  language  being  specially  like  it  in 
some  respects.  He  thought  that  getting  a  knowledge  of  the 
Hebrew  was  a  key    to  the  Indian  language. 

"A  tradition  which  came  down  through  many  generations, 
told  of  a  celestial  person  being  l^orn;  born  of  Manito,  but  of  an 
earthly  mother;  Manito  being  the  Great  Spirit,  the  master  of 
life.  This  being,  so  born,  went  to  and  is  now  in  a  cold  north 
country.  When  the  Whites  discover  this  country  and  the  per- 
son comes  forth,  the  earth  will  burst  into  flams.  The  Indians 
had  a  saying  that  the  AVhites  would  drive  them  from  this  land. 

"He  then  sang  a  song,  of  which  one  line  struck  me  very  forci- 
bly: 'Ephraim,  I  have  seen  your  afflictions,  but  you  shall  live.'" 

This  line  of  Indian  song  justifies  the  seeming  absurd 
assumption  made  at  a  previous  stage,  that  the  four  broth- 
ers who  colonized  Peru  were  of  the  house  of  Joseph. 
How  like  it  is  to  what  Jeremiah  wrote:  "I  have  surely 
heard  Ephraim  bemoaning  himself.  .  .  Is  he  my  son? 
.  .  .  My  bow^els  are  troubled  for  him."  The  Indian 
chant  stirs  the  song-spirit  within.  It  is  the  psean  of 
the  World-Story,  and  brings  it  to  a  fitting  close;  but 
other  facts  remain. 

Catlin  gives  the  follow^ing  account  of  a  ceremonial 
custom  maintained  by  the  Mandan  Indians: 


MOUND-MEN  225 

"In  the  center  of  the  vinaire  is  an  open  space  or  public  square 
150  feet  in  diameter,  and  circular  in  form,  which  is  used  for  all 
jmblic  games  and  festivals,  shows  and  exliibitions.  The  lodges 
about  this  open  space  front  in,  with  their  doors  toward  the  cen- 
ter; and  in  the  middle  of  this  stands  an  object  of  great  religious 
veneration,  on  account  of  the  importance  it  has  in  connection 
with  the  annual  religious  ceremonies.  This  object  is  in  the  form 
of  a  large  hogshead,  some  eight  or  ten  feet  high,  made  of  planks 
and  hoops,  containing  within  it  some  of  their  choicest  mysteries 
or  medicines.    They  call  it  the  Big  Canoe.        *        *        *        * 

"On  the  day  set  apart  for  the  commencement  of  the  ceremo- 
nies a  solitary  figure  is  seen  approaching  the  village.  During 
the  deafening  din  and  confusion  within  the  pickets  of  the  vil- 
lage, the  figure  discovered  on  the  jirairie  continued  to  advance, 
with  dignified  step  and  in  a  right  line  toward  the  village;  all 
eyes  were  upon  him,  and  he,  at  length,  made  his  appearance 
within  tlie  pickets,  and  proceeded  toward  the  centre  of  the 
village,  where  all  the  chiefs  and  braves  stood  read}'  to  receive 
him,  which  they  did  in  a  cordial  manner  by  shaking  hands,  re- 
cognizing him  as  an  old  acquaintance,  and  pronouncng  his  name, 
Nu-mohk-mucka-nah — the  first  or  only  man.  The  body  of  this 
strange  personage,  which  was  chiefly  naked,  was  painted  with 
white  clay,  so  as  to  resemble  at  a  distance  a  white  man.  He 
entei-s  the  medicine  lodge,  and  goes  through  certain  mysterious 
ceremonies 

"During  the  whole  of  this  day  Nu-mohk-muck-a-nah  traveled 
through  the  village,  stopping  in  front  of  each  man's  lodge  and 
crying  till  the  owner  of  the  lodge  came  out  and  asked  who  he  was 
and  what  was  the  matter?  To  which  he  replied  l>y  nan-ating  the 
sad  catastrophe  which  had  happened  on  the  earth's  surface  by 
the  overflowing  of  the  waters,  saying  that  he  was  the  only  per- 
son saved  from  the  universal  calamity;  that  he  landed  his  big 
canoe  on  a  high  mountain  in  the  west,  whei'e  he  now  resides; 
that  he  has  come  to  open  the  medicine  lodge,  which  must 
needs  receive  a  present  of  an  edged  tool  from  the  owner  of 
every  wigwam,  that  it  may  be  sacrificed  to  the  water; 
for,  he  says:  'If  this  is  not  done  there  will  be  another  flood,  and 
no  one  will  be  saved,  as  it  was  with  such  tools  that  the  Big  Ca- 
noe was  made. 

"Having  visited  every  lodge  in  the  village  during  the  day,  and 

o 


226  THE  WORLD-STORY 

having  received  such  a  present  from  each  as  a  hatchet,  a  knife, 
etc.  (which  is  nndoiibtedly  always  prepared  ready  for  the  occa- 
sion), he  places  them  in  the  medicine  lodge;  and,  on  the  last 
day  of  the  ceremony,  they  are  thrown  into  a  deep  place  in  the 
river — 'sacrificed  to  the  spirit  of  the  waters.' 

[Twelve  men  dance  around  the  ark:] 

"They  arrange  themselves  according  to  the  four  cardinal 
points;  two  are  painted  perfectly  black,  two  a  vermillion  color; 
some  were  painted  partially  white.  They  dance  a  dance  called 
Behtochk-na-pie .  * 

"The  time  for  this  ceremony  was  that  in  which  the  leaves  of 
the  willows  on  the  river  bank  were  first  fully  opened,  for,  accord- 
ing to  their  tradition,  the  twig  that  the  bird  brought  home  was 
a  willow  bough,  and  had  full-grown  leaves  upon  it,  and  the 
bird  to  which  they  allude  is  the  mourning  or  turtle  dove, 
which  they  took  great  pains  to  point  out  to  me." 

The  Mandans  were  described  by  Catlin  as  having  dif- 
ferent shades  of  complexion,  and  vai-ious  colors  of  hair: 

"There  are  a  great  many  of  these  people  as  light  as 
half-breeds,  and  among  the  women,  particularly,  there  are  ma- 
ny whose  skins  are  almost  white,  with  the  most  pleasing  sym- 
metry and  proportion  of  features;  with  hazel,  with  gray,  and 
with  blue  eyes;  with  mildness  and  sweetness  of  expression,  and 
excessive  modesty  of  demeanor,  Avhich  renders  them  exceeding- 
ly pleasing  and  beautiful.  Why  this  diversity  of  complexion, 
I  cannot  tell,  nor  can  they  themselves  account  for  it.  Their 
traditions,  as  far  as  I  can  learn  them,  aff()rd  no  information  of. 
their  having  had  any  knowledge  of  white  men  before  the  visit 
of  Lewis  and  Clarke  made  to  their  village  thirty-three  years  ago 
Since  that  time  until  now  (1835),  there  have  been  very  few  vis- 
its of  white  men  to  this  place,  and  surely  not  enough  to  have 
changed  the  complexion  and  customs  of  a  nation;  and  I  recol- 
lect perfectly  well  that  Governor  Clarke  told  me  before  I  start- 
ed for  this  place,  that  I  would  find  the  Mandans  a  strange  peo- 
ple, and  half  white. 

"Among  the  females  may  be  seen  every  shade  and  color  of 
hair  that  can  be  seen  in  our  own  country  except  red  or  auburn, 
which  can  not  be  found.     .     .     There  are  many  of  both   sexes, 
and  of  every  age,  from   infancy  to  manhood  and  old  age,  with 
hair  of  a  bright  silver  gray,  and  in  some  instances  almost  white. 


MOUND-IklEN  227 

This  unaccountable  phenomenon  is  not  the  result  of  disease  or 
lial)it,  l)nt  it  is  iinquesti()nal)ly  an  hereditar}'  characteristic 
which  runs  in  families,  and  indicates  no  inequality  in  disposi- 
tion or  intellect.  Bv  passing  this  through  my  hands  I  have 
found  it  uniformly  to  be  as  coarse  and  harsh  as  a  horse's  mane, 
differing  from  the  hair  of  other  colors,  which,  among  Mandans, 
is  generally  as  white  and  soft  as  silk. 

Doubtless  there  was  a  time  when  God  exercised  di- 
rect control  of  the  color  of  the  skin,  as  of  the  powers  | 
of  speech.  Now,  by  an  inscrutable  law  children  of  dif- 
ferent colors  are  born  into  the  same  family.  It  appears 
to  be  the  same  law  that  brings  gray  rabbits  and  white 
ones  to  the  same  nest. 

Indian  children  are  lighter  colored  than  grown  Indians, 
and  old  age  adds  a  darker  shade.  Shelter  from  wind 
and  sun  has  a  bleaching  effect,  and  vice  versa.  Of  the 
two  Oatman  girls  taken  captive  by  the  Mohaves,  one 
became  fragile,  refined,  spiritual,  and,  as  she  declined  to 
death,  angelic;  the  other  grew  turgid,  tough  and  tawny, 
and,  after  a  few  years,  unrecognizable  at  first  by  those 
who  rescued  her.  Indian  children  raised  indoor  and 
cleanly,  lose  more  or  less  of  their  distinctive  olive  hue. 
The  higher  classes  in  China  are  fairer  than  the  labor- 
ing classes.  Some  Japanese  ladies  ai'e  white.  Educa- 
tion not  only  makes  people  think  alike,  but  look  alike. 
If  civilization  whitens  the  Indian,  the  converse  may  be 
worth  considering — that  his  barbarism  blackened  him. 
Want  and  wind,  hot  sun  and  sin,  darken  the  aspect,  but 
work  within  limits.  The  cause  that  made  Moses'  face 
white  is  a  factor  in  the  problems  of  the  future. 

A  remarkable  instance  showing  the  kinshi  pof  the  red 
and  the  white  races  is  furnished  in  the  life  of  Eleazer 
Williams,  the  lost  Daui)hin.  lie  was  raised  as  an  In- 
dian; called  Indians  his  father,  mother,  brothers  and  sis- 
ters; married  a  half  breed;  dedicated  his  life  to  preach- 


228  THE  WORLD-STORY 

ing  the  gospel  to  those  whom  he  called  his  people.  His 
blissful  ignorance  was  dispelled  when  De  Joinville,  son 
and  heir  of  Louis  Phillippe,  sought  him  out  at  Green 
Bay,  spread  a  parchment  before  him  and  presented  "the 
seal  and  stamp  of  Louis  XVI.  for  him  to  use  in  signing 
the  parchment  granting  away  the  throne  of  Fi-ance,  in 
exchange  for  a  princely  settlement." 
An  entry  in  Williams's  journal  runs: 

"My  refusal  to  the  demand  made  of  me,  I  am  sure,  can  be  of 
no  earthly  good  to  me;  but  I  save  my  honor,  and  it  may  be  for 
the  good  of  generations  vet  unborn.  It  is  the  will  of  Heaven. 
I  am  in  a  state  of  r)bscurity;  so  shall  I  remain  while  in  this  pil- 
grimage state.  I  will  endeavor,  with  all  humility,  to  serve  the 
King  of  Heaven,  and  to  advance  his  holy  cause  among  the  ig- 
norant and  benighted  people,  which  has  been  my  delight.  *  * 

"Why  was  it  permitted  that  I  should  know  this?  But  to  God, 
the  judge  of  all,  I  leave  it." 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE  GREAT  CULTURE  HERO. 

The  last  chapter  closed  with  a  notice  of  a  culture  he- 
ro, which  suggests  the  title  of  the  present  chapter. 

In  Chapter  XII.  it  was  seen  that  Christ  was  the  De- 
sire of  All  Nations  of  the  Eastern  Continent.  The  uni- 
versality of  the  laws  hitherto  traced,  the  general  harmo- 
ny of  events  noticed,  the  omnipresence  of  Israelitish  tradi- 
tions and  Christian  symbolism,  the  Christ-myths  already 
noticed,  the  universality  of  inspiration,  the  nature  of 
God  and  the  needs  of  man,  aside  from  theological  spec- 
ulations, all  certify  (and  it  is  a  befitting  sub-title  to 
this  book) :  That  Christ  maintained  the  same  relation 
to  this  continent  that  he  did  to  the  other. 

Historically  this  is  the  situation:  Noah  both  the  pa- 
rent of  all  and  a  prophet,  his  patriarchial  and  prophetic 
relations  both,  extending  to  this  continent. 

Keeping  within  the  purview  of  what  has  been  scien- 
tifically demonstrated,  did  God,  after  making  known  his 
purposes  to  Noah,  as  we  have  seen,  thereafter  keep  his 
eye  on  only  half  this  infinitesimal  globe,  losing  sight 
of  the  toiling  millions  on  this  land,  descendants  of  the 
patriarchs,  and  heirs  of  the  promises  made  to  them,  and 
subject  to  the  threatenings  also?  Does  God,  in  deed,  no- 
tice the  sparrows  and  hear  the  young  ravens?  Yes; 
that  is  admitted.  We  cannot  philosophise  without  in- 
ducinfj  such  conclusions  in  the  mind.  If  then  God  did 
pronounce  blessings  and    threatenings;  did   make,    pre- 


230  THE  WORLD-STORY 

serve,and  scatter  man  abroad,  shall  he  not  be  supposed  to 
have  kept  track  of  his  wanderings?  We  can  not  re- 
move the  ancient  Americans  from  the  providence  of 
God  without  robbing  him  of  his  dominion  and  belittle- 
ing  his  character— one  half  of  the  globe  unknown  to 
God!  one  half  of  the  race  uncared  for  by  him,  and  left 
out  of  the  scheme  of  redemption! 

Enoch  walked  with  God,  else  monumental  history 
leads  back  only  to  a  fountain  of  falsehood.  From  No- 
ah to  Melchisedek  was  a  succession  of  prophets;  and  in 
all  lands  there  seems  to  have  been  men  of  like  gifts,  and  all 
were  men  of  like  passions  as  ourselves,  regardless  of  the 
separation  of  centuries  or  seas.  Columbus  comes  within 
the  categoiy  of  inspired  agencies.  The  scene  of  ruined 
cities  upon  which  Stephens  looked  in  wonder  was  a  fam- 
iliar fact  to  those  in  the  counsels  of  God.  Millions  had 
gone  up  from  there  to  the  realm  of  universal  intelligence. 
The  Christ-idea  pervaded  the  Eastern  World  from  the 
dawn  of  time.  The  monuments  are  ablaze  with  it. 
Christ  is  the  light  of  every  one  that  cometh  into  the 
world;  so  all  the  facts  of  this  investigation  declare. 
Then,  did  all  these  millions  of  men,  sculptors,  builders 
and  worshipers,  die  knowing  nothing  of  their  light,  nor 
he  of  them?  Our  philosophy  should  be  more  compre- 
hensive, or  else  we  should  shut  xip  the  books  of  record, 
and  re-entomb  the  monuments,  and  thus  stop  our  ears  to 
the  voices  calling  to  us  out  of  the  dust.  The  winds  de- 
ride our  restricted  conceptions,  visiting,  like  God's  free 
spirit,  every  land.  The  discovery  of  half  a  world  makes 
necessary,  as  a  historical  as  well  as  logical  sequence, 
the  re-adjustment  of  religious  theories,  and  the  develop- 
ing of  the  theological  scheme.  In  the  sweep  of  time 
everything  that  is  not  revolutionized  becomes  fossilized; 
the  life  goes  out;  the  form  remains  but  it  is  cold  and  ready 


THE  GREAT  CULTURE? HERO  231 

to  be  catalogued,  and  cherished  as  a  relic.  There  is  no- 
thing more  conspicuously  vain  and  illogical  than  an  at- 
tempt to  make  the  mighty  movements  of  modern  ages 
conform  to  the  expedients  by  which  councils  and  con- 
ventions tided  through  the  vicissitudes  of  past  times. 

It  was  well  for  men  to  restrict  the  application  of  eth- 
nological and  theological  principles  to  one  hemisphere 
until  they  knew  there  was  another  one,  but  now  that  it 
is  known  that  there  are  two  halves  to  the  world,  there 
ousht  to  be  another  half  added  to  our  philosophy. 

The  early  Catholic  Missionaries  believed  that  St. 
Thomas  had  crossed  the  sea  and  preached  the  gospel  on 
this  continent.  They  are  objects  of  jeers  in  our  standard 
works  on  the  subject  of  the  native  races, 

What  are  seas  to  God?  what  are  they  to  angels,  to  proph- 
ets and  to  seers?  The  idea  that  prophets  could  and  did 
look  down  through  all  time  without  being  able  to  see 
beyond  the  physical  barriers  that  bounded  their  steps, 
is  so  stultifying,  that  when  challenged  it  can  not  be  any 
longer  entertained.  Prophecy  annihilates  petty  terres- 
trial spaces,  as  it  does  the  prodigious  periods  of  years. 
The  prophecy  that  declares  the  results  of  the  move- 
ments among  men  down  to  the  latest  day,  includes  in 
one  scheme  all  the  facts  that  make  up  that  final  result. 
No  one  would  say  that  the  America  of  the  present 
could  be  left  out  of  the  prophetic  programme  looking 
to  the  final  result.  America  is  the  source  whence  flows 
out  the  liberty  and  enlightenment  that  are  the  most 
potent  agencies  that  are  enlisted.  If  America  is  now 
included  in  the  progressive  scheme  of  redemption,  when 
was  it  not  so  included?  Reason  says,  Never;  and 
so  we  are  forced  to  accept  the  testimony  of  the  monu- 
ments. When  the  dispersion  from  the  tower  took  place, 
America  was  included  in  the  scheme.     When  the  allot- 


232  THE  WORLD-STORY 

ment  was  made  to  the  sous  of  Jacob,  America  was  con- 
templated aud  described.  When,  therefore,  the  angels 
sang  their  greetings  to  the  she^Dherds  of  Judea,  were 
there  no  choristers  on  this  side  of  the  sea?  and  when 
the  sun  that  shines  alike  for  all,  indicated  the 
most  awful  event  in  universal  annals,  might  not  intima- 
iions  of  the  meaning  have  been  granted  to  believers 
here?  Coming  down  to  a  later  day,  when  the  two  con- 
tinents were  to  be  joined,  and  this  one  re-peopled,  we 
might  presume  that  the  directing  power  of  God  would 
be  manifest.  The  the  following  is  taken  from  "Is  the 
End  Near?,"  by  C,  C.  Ruthrauff: 

"I  quote  from  an  incident  narrated  by  Columbus  of  himself. 
It  was  on  the  occasion  of  his  second  voyage,  and  after  the  wea- 
ry hours  spent  on  the  lookout  for  land,  he  had  thrown  himself 
prone  upon  the  deck  in  utter  despair.  'Then  it  was,'  says  Co- 
lumbus, 'I  heard  a  familar  voice  speaking  to  me  in  compassion- 
ate tones:  '0,  fool  and  unbeliever  who  will  not  serve  thy  God, 
him  who  hath  done  more  for  thee  than  for  Moses  and  David. 
Ever  since  thou  wast  born  he  hath  had  thee  in  charge;  as  soon 
as  he  saw  that  thou  hadst  reached  the  age  of  thy  destiny  he  filled 
the  world  with  thy  fame.  The  Indies  hath  he  given  thee  for 
thine  own.  He  hath  given  thee  the  keys  of  the  ocean, 
bound  as  with  strong  chains  before.  Stand  up  as  a  man  and 
acknowledge  thy  error.  Thou  callest  for  an  uncertain  success, 
yet  God  hath  never  been  false  to  his  promise.  Surely  he  will 
recompense  thee  for  the  Migues  and  perils  thou  hast  undergone. 
Fear  not:  do  not  complain,  for  all  these  tribulations  shall 
be  written  in  marble.'  Hearing  this,  overcome,  I  could  only 
weep  for  my  errors.  " 

When  the  Pilgrm  Fathers  started  from  Ley  den,  their 
pastor  exorted  them  to  readily  accept  any  revelations 
God  might  grant  them. 

Columbus  seems  to  have  been  foreseen  by  Seneca,  who 
says:  "There  shall  come  a  time,  in  the  latter  day,  when 
Ocean  shall  relax  bis  chains,  and  vast  continents  appear, 


THE  GREAT  CULTURE  HERO  233 

and  Thule  shall  no  more  be   earth's   bounds.     A  new 
pilot  shall  set  out,"  etc. 

Now  that  this  other  half  of  the  world  has  been  known 
for  nearly  four  hundred  years,  and  is  peopled  by  a  new 
race  of  intelligent,  thinking  people,  proud  and  patriotic, 
is  it  not  time  to  begin  to  query  about  the  relations  of 
God  to  this  country,  and  as  to  what  are  his  designs  con- 
cerning it?  What  were  his  designs  in  bringing  us  up- 
on itV  What  relation  have  we,  as  a  nation,  to  him  and 
to  his  general  designs'?  We  find  to  our  amazement  that 
great  nations  have  lived  and  perished  on  this  land  where 
God  now  rules.  Did  they  have  any  knowledge  of  God? 
What  was  their  fate;  what  shall  be  ours;  who  were 
they?  Among  all  the  teeming  thousands  on  this  land 
who  cultivated  the  earth,  built  temples,  palaces  and 
tombs,  who  raised  families,  and  buried  friends,  were 
there  none  who  reached  out  by  faith  to  God?  If  not, 
then  tlaey  wei'e  not  like  the  ancients  of  Persia,  Arabia 
and  Judea;  and  if  they  did  so  reach  out,  and  God  did  not 
ansAver  them,  then  he  is  not  God  as  revealed  to  us.  If 
there  were  prophets  among  them  they  looked  forward 
to  this  day,  and  were  interested  in  coming  generations. 
The  requirement  to  love  all  men,  includes  all  generations 
of  men.  What  is  meant  by  the  "communion  of  saints," 
is  a  general  communion. 

This  reasoning  is  based  upon  the  common  claims  of 
humanity,  but  there  is  abundant  evidence  in  the  last 
three  chapters  that  the  ancients  of  this  continent  had 
covenant  relations  with  the  Almighty,  and  this  greatly 
enlarges  our  conceptions.  The  greater  the  scope  we 
give  to  God's  covenants  the  more  impoi'tance  they  as- 
sume. We  have  personal  interest  in  seeking  to  confirm 
all  the  promises  of  God;  and,  if  those  that  do  not  directly  nj) 

refer  to  us  are  not  true,  we  can  not  rely  upon  those  that 


234  THE  WORLD-STORY 

do  apply  to  us.  We  can  not  afford  to  give  up  to  the 
infidel  any  promise  of  God.  We  ought  to  be  jealous  of 
God's  honor,  and  reverently  hold  him  to  his  word. 

If  it  be  proven  that  Hebrews  once  existed  on 
this  continent,  it  becomes  necessary  to  admit  that  knowl- 
edge of  Christ  was  had  here,  for  his  commision  was  to 
the  lost  sheep.  It  is  not  necessaary  to  the  requii'ements 
of  that  commission  that  he  should  have  come  here  in 
person;  but  there  is  nothing  unreasonable  in  the  suppo- 
sition that  he  did  so,  as  he  came  and  went  at  will  after 
his  resurrection,  and  seas  are  not  dividing  lines  in  the  - 
spirit  realm.  In  some  way,  miraculous  or  otherwise,  a 
knowledge  of  Christianity  did  obtain  here,  and  exten- 
sively prevail. 

"Boturini  tells  us  that  he  possessed  certain  historical 
knowledge  concerning  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  in 
America  by  the  glorious  apostle  St.  Thomas.  Another 
proof  in  his  possession  was  a  painting  of  a  cross  which 
he  discovered  near  the  hill  Tianguiz,  which  cross  was 
about  a  cubit  in  size,  and  painted  by  the  hands  of  an  an- 
gel a  beautiful  blue  color,  with  various  devices.  Botu- 
rini also  possessed  a  painting  of  another  cross  which 
was  drawn  by  means  of  a  machine  made  for  the  pur- 
pose, out  of  an  inacessible  cave  where  it  had  been  de- 
posited in  pagan  times." — Bancroft. 

That  a  marble  cross  was  found  in  Peru  by  the  conquer- 
ors and  placed  in  the  cathedral  at  Cuzco,  no  one  questions. 
The  cross  was  the  most  common  religious  symbol  seen 
in  the  ruins  of  Central  America;  and  in  Mexico  crosses 
were  numerous  in  times  before  the  Conquest.  A  cross 
worked  with  thread  in  a  small  flag  was  displayed  in  fu- 
neral ceremonies  by  the  Nahua  nations.  Within  a  sa- 
^  cred  enclosure  on    the  island  of  Cozumel,  a  cross   nine 

feet  high  was  seen  by  the  invaders. 


THE  GREAT  CULTURE  HERO  235 

The  ffoddess  Chalchihuitliciie  held  in  her  hand  a  ves- 
sel  in  the  shape  of  a  cross.  Guatiilco  was  likewise  one 
of  the  many  localities  described  by  the  early 
Catholic  writers  as  containing  a  wonderful  cross,  left 
there  probably  by  St.  Thomas,  during  his  sojourn  in 
America.  Under  the  northern  building  of  this  palace 
(at  Mitla)  is  a  subterranean  gallery  in  the  form  of  a 
cross.  At  Miztitlan  is  a  sculptured  cross  on  a  lofty,  al- 
most inaccessible  cliff.  At  Zacualtipan  is  a  sculptured 
cross.  At  Metlaloyuca  is  the  figure  of  a  woman  bear- 
ing a  cross.  There  was  a  celebrated  cross  at  Tepic. 
At  Zuni  Coranado  saw  not  only  crosses  but  three  Christ- 
ians. The  cross  is  to  be  found  in  Mexican  MSS.,  and 
appears  in  that  of  Fevervary,  with  a  bird  which,  as  an 
inhabitant  of  the  air,  may  be  said  to  accord  Avith  the 
character  of  the  symbol. 

The  above  is  collated  from  Mr.  Bancroft's  work.  He 
says  that  the  frequent  occurrence  of  the  cross  is  "one 
of  the  most  striking  evidences  of  the  former  recognition 
of  the  reciprocal  principle  of  nature  by  the  Americans, 
especially  when  we  remember  that  the  Mexican  name 
for  the  emblem,  tonaquacahuitl,  signifies  'tree  of  one 
life  or  fiesh.' "  The  cross  was  also  a  common  emblem 
among  the  Indians  of  the  United  States,  to  whom  it  is 
supposed  to  have  represented  the  four  winds.  The 
cross  was  also  a  symbol  of  the  rain  god,  and  may  have 
had  reference  to  the  four  winds  and  four  cardinal  points; 
but,  taking  into  consideration  the  other  evidences,  it 
must  be  regarded  as  an  original  Christian  emblem,  per- 
verted from  its  former  use  and  meaning,  as  the  following, 
also  by  Mr.  B.,  indicates: 

"Near  Chacalca,  still  further  south,  there  is  a  tank, 
and  near  it  a  cross,  well  carved,  and  on  its  foot  certain 
ancient  unknown  letters,  with  points  in  five    lines.     On 


236  THE  WORLD-STORY 

it  was  seen  a  most  devoted  crucifix.  Under  it  are  other 
lines  of  characters  with  the  said  j^oints,  which  seemed 
Hebrew  or  Syriac." 

Those  who  have  given  Wyrick  his  quietus,  should 
take  this  case  in  hand. 

The  Shoshone  Indians  of  Nevada  say  their  god  ap- 
peared to  two  of  their  tribe,  on  a  mountain,  recently, 
and  told  them  that  he  was  the  Whiteman's  papa,  the 
Negro's  papa  and  their  papa;  to  keep  up  their  yearly 
festivals,  and  after  a  certain  number  of  these  fandangos 
he  would  come  to  them. 

All  the  Puebla  tribes  are  looking  for  the  return  of 
their  Montezuma. 

Viracocha,  was  the  name  of  the  white  faced  culture- 
hero  of  Peru.  The  Brazilians  have  traditions  of  Sume 
and  Paye-Tome,  bearded  men  who  came  across  the  sea, 
before  whom  animals  couched  and  trees  receded.  In 
Chili  was  a  mysterious  apostle  who  healed  the  sick  and 
gave  sight  to  the  blind.  Bochica  was  the  law-maker  of 
the  Muyscas,  long-robed,  bearded,  &c.  He  came  sud- 
denly, and  suddenly  disappeared. 

"Quetzalcoatl  is  said  to  have  been  a  white  man,  with  a  strong 
conformation  of  body,  broad  forehead,  black  hair  and  heavy 
beard.  He  always  wore  a  long  white  robe,  which,  according 
to  Gomara,  was  decorated  with  crosses.  *  *  * 

"The  leader  and  civilizer  of  the  Nahuas  was  Quetzalcoatl,  the 
plumed  serpent,  the  same  that  in  Central  America  is  called  Ku- 
culcan.  ******* 

"Only  Quetzalcoatl,  among  all  the  gods,  was  pre-eminently 
called  Lord,  in  such  sort,  that  when  any  one  swore,  saying, 
B}^  our  Lord,  he  meant  Quetzalcoatl  and  no  other,  though  there 
may  have  been  many  other  highly  esteemed  gods.  He  taught 
only  virtue,  abhorring  all  evil  and  all  hurt.  Twenty  years  this 
man  taught  in  Cholula,  then  he  jxissed  away  bj-  the  road  that  he 
came  carrying  with  him  four  of  the  principal  and  most  virtuous 
youths  of  that  city.     He  journeyed  for  a  hundred  and  fifty 


THE  GREAT  CULTURE  HERO  237 

leagues,  till  he  cume  to  the  soa,  in  a  distant  province  called  (io- 
atzacoalco.  Here  he  took  leave  of  his  coniininions  and  sent 
them  bac-k  to  their  city,  instructing  them  to  tell  their  fellow-cit- 
izens that  a  day  should  come  in  which  white  men  should  land 
on  their  coasts,  l>y  way  of  the  sea  in  whii-h  the  sun  rises,  breth- 
ren of  his,  and  having  beards  like  his,  and  tliat  tliey  should  rule 
the  land.  The  Mexicans  always  waited  for  the  accomplish- 
ment of  this  prophecy,  and  when  the  Spaniards  came  they  took 
them  for  the  descendants  of  their  meek  and  gentle  prophet;  al- 
though, as  ]\Iendieta  remarks  with  some  sarcasm,  when  they 
•  came  to  know  them  and  to  experience  their  works,  they  thought 
otherwise.  *  *  *  * 

"The  ideas  of  Brasseur  with  regard  to  Quetzalcoatl  have  their 
roots  in,  and  must  be  traced  back  to,  the  very  first  appearing  of 
the  INIexican  religion,  or  of  the  religion  or  religions  by  which  it 
was  preceded.  *  * 

"After  the  enfranchisement  of  the  Olmecs,  a  man  named 
Quetzalcoatl  arrived  in  the  country,  wliom  Garcia,  Torquemada, 
Sahugan  and  other  Sjjanish  writers  took  to  be  St.  Thomas.  It 
was  also  at  that  time  that  the  third  age  ended  and  the  fourth  be- 
gan, called  'sun  of  fire,'  because  it  was  supposed  that  the  world 
would  be  destroyed  by  fire.  *  * 

"The  Oajacens  believed  that  in  very  remote  times,  about  the 
era  of  the  apostles,  according  to  the  padras,  an  old  white  man 
with  long  hair  and  beard,  ai)peared  suddenly  at  Huatulco,  com- 
ing from  the  southwest  by  sea,  and  preached  to  the  natives  in 
their  own  tongue,  but  of  things  l)eyond  their  understanding. 
He  lived  a  strict  life,  passing  the  greater  part  of  the  night  in  a 
kneeling  posture,  and  eating  but  little.  He  disappeared  short- 
ly after,  as  mysteriously  as  he  came,  but  left,  as  a  memento  of 
his  visit,  a  cross,  which  he  planted  with  his  own  hands,  and 
admonished  the  people  to  preserve  it  sacredly,  as  one  day  they 
would  be  taught  its  significance." — Bancroft. 

"Quetzalcoatl  is  he  who  was  born  of  the  virgin  called  Chal- 
chihuitli,  Avhich  means  the  precious  stone  of  penance  or  sacri- 
fice. He  was  saved  in  the  Deluge,  and  was  born  in  Zivenaritz- 
catl,  where  he  resides.  His  fa«t  wa«  a  kind  of  preparation  for 
the  end  of  the  world,  which  they  said  would  happen  in  tlie  day 
of  four  earthijuakes,  so  they  were  daily  in  expectation  of  that 
event.    It  was  he  who  they  say  created  the  world,  and  they  be- 


238  THE  WORLD-STORY 

stowed  on  him  the  appellation  of  the  Lord  of  the  wind,  and  that 
Tonacateotl,  when  it  aj^peared  good  to  him,  hreathed  and  be- 
gat Quetzalcoatl.  They  erected  round  temples  to  him,  without 
corners.  They  said  it  was  he  who  formed  the  first  man.  He 
alone  had  a  human  body  like  that  of  a  man;  tlie  other  gods 
were  of  an  incorporeal  nature.  *  * 

"They  declare  that  their  supreme  deity,  or  more  properly 
speaking,  demon,  Tonacateotl,  whom  we  have  just  mentioned, 
who  by  another  name  was  called  Cetanatonali.  .  .  begat 
Quetzalcote,  not  byl  connection  with  a  woman  but  by  his  breath 
alone,  as  we  have  observed  above,  when  he  sent  his  embassa- 
dors, as  they  say,  to  the  Virgin  of  Tulla.  They  believed  him  to 
be  the  God  of  the  air.  He  was  the  first  to  whom  they  built  tem- 
ples and  churches,  which  they  formed  perfectly  round,  without 
any  angles.  They  say  it  was  he  who  effected  the  reformation 
of  the  world  by  penance,  as  we  have  already  said;  since,  accord- 
ing to  their  account,  his  father  had  created  the  world,  and 
when  men  had  given  themselves  up  to  vice,  on  which  account 
it  had  been  so  frequently  destroyed,  Cetanatonali  sent  his  son 
into  the  world  to  reform  it.  We  certainly  must  deplore  the 
blindness  of  these  miserable  people,  on  whom  8t.  Paul  says  the 
wrath  of  god  has  to  be  revealed." — Ki7igsboyou^/i. 

Mr.  Short,  following  Mendieta,  says: 

"From  the  distant  East,  from  the  fabulous  Hue-hue-Tlapalan, 
this  mysterious  person  came  to  Tula,  and  became  the  patron, 
God,  and  highpriest  of  the  ancestors  of  the  Toltecs.  He  is  de- 
scribed as  having  been  a  wdiite  man  with  a  strong  formation  of 
body,  broad  forehead,  large  eyes  and  flowing  beard.  He  w'ore 
a  mitre  on  his  head,  and  was  dressed  in  a  long  white  robe,  reach- 
ing down  to  his  feet  and  covered  with  red  crosses.  In  his  hand 
he  held  a  sickle.  His  habits  were  ascetic;  he  never  married;  was 
most  chaste  and  pure  in  his  life,  and  is  said  to  have  endured 
penance  in  a  neighboring  mountain,  not  for  its  effects  upon 
himself,  but  as  an  example  to  others.  Some  have  here  found  a 
parallel  for  Christ's  temptation.  He  condemned  sacrifices,  ex- 
cept of  fruits  and  flowers,  and  was  known  as  the  God  of  peace; 
for  when  addressed  on  the  subject  of  war  he  is  reported  to  have 
stopped  his  ears  with  his  fingers.  Quetzalcoatl  was  skilled  in 
many  arts,  having  invented  gem-cutting  and  metal-casting.  He 
furthermore  originated  letters,  invented  the  Mexican  Calendar, 


THE  GREAT  CULTURE  HERO  239 

■&c.  .  .  After  twenty  y<?Jvi"!'  'ia<l  elapsed,  that  subtile,  fever- 
ish draught  received  from  the  hand  of  Tezaitlipooa,  away  back 
in  Tulla,  like  an  old  poison  in  the  veins,  renewed  its  power. 
Again  his  people,  his  palaces  and  his  pyramidal  temple  were 
forsaken,  that  he  niitrht  start  on  his  long  and  final  journey. 
He  told  the  priests  that  the  mysterious  Tlapallan  was  his  desti- 
nation; and,  turning  toward  the  east,  proceeded  on  his  way  un- 
til he  reached  the  sea  at  a  point  a  few  miles  south  of  Vera  Cruz. 
Here  he  bestowed  his  blessing  upon  four  young  men  who  ac- 
com})anied  him  from  Cholula,  and  commanded  them  to  go  back 
to  their  homes,  bearing  the  promise  to  his  people  that  he  would 
return  to  them  and  again  set  up  his  kingdom  among  them. 
Then  embarking  in  a  canoe  made  of  serpent  skins,  he  sailed 
away  into  the  East." 

"Suchiquecal  was  called  the  Queen  of  Heaven.  She  conceiv- 
ed a  son  without  connection  with  a  man.  *  * 

"The  ancient  ^Mexicans  had  a  fast  of  forty  days  in  honor  and 
in  memory  of  one  of  their  demigods,  or  saviors,  who  was  temp- 
ted forty  days  on  a  mountain.  *  * 

"The  ancient  Peruvians,  after  sacrificing  a  lamb,  mingled  its 
blood  with  flour  and  distributed  it  among  the  people.      * 

"A  messenger  from  heaven  announced  to  the  first  woman 
created  (Suchiciuecal),  that  she  should  bear  a  son  who  should 
bruise  the  serpent's  head;  and  then  presented  her  with  a  rose.  .  . 

"The  Mexicans  had  a  'scape-lamb,'  answering  to  the  'scape- 
goat' of  the  Jews.  They  also  sacrificed  a  lamb  as  an  atonement, 
which  they  called  the 'Lamb  of  (Jod.' 

"The  Mexicans  believed  in  the  Trinity:  Y,Zonah  was  the 
Father,  Cacal  the  Word,  and  Echvay  the  Holy  Ghost;  by  the 
last,  Chimalman  conceived,  and  brought  forth  Quetzalcoatl.     .     . 

"The  Mexican  king  W5i.«  anointed  with  Holy  unction  by  the 
highpriest,  while  dancing  l)efore  the  Lord.        *  *  * 

"The  temptation  of  Quetzalcote,  the  fast  of  forty  days  ordained 
by  tlie  Mexican  ritual,  the  cup  with  which  he  was  i)resented  to 
drink(on  the  cross),  the  reed  which  was  his  sign,  the  'Morning 
Star,'  which  he  is  designated,  the  'Teotnjiall,'  or  'Divine  Stone,' 
which  was  laid  upon  his  altar,  and  wliirli  was  likewise  an  ob- 
ject of  adoration, — all  these  circumstances,  connected  with  ma- 
ny othej-ri  relating  to  (iuet/alcote  of  Mexico,  but  which  are 
here  omitted,  are  very  curious  and  mysterious." — Kingsborough, 


240  THE  WORLD  STORY. 

Humboldt,  Maurice  and  Kingsborough  unite  in  saying 
that  these  legends  are  ancient. 

Acosta  says  the  Mexicans  celebrated  the  Eucliarist. 

One  of  the  plates  of  the  "Codex  Borgianus"  represents 
Quetzalcoatl  nailed  to  the  cross,  another  as  being  cruci- 
fied in  the  heavens,  and  a  third  as  crucified  between 
two  thieves.  This  work  also  recounts  his  burial,  descent 
into  hell  and  resurrection.  The  "Codex  Vaticanus" 
gives  the  account  of  his  miraculous  conception  and  birth. 

These  testimonies  concerning  Christ's  presence  on  this 
continent  have  been  slighted;  they  have  never  had 
their  proper  setting  before.  Each  successive  statement 
in  all  this  eventful  history  leads  to  the  culmination  we 
have  reached.  The  scene  of  Crucifixion  in  the  heavens 
is  doubtless  an  expression  of  the  doctrine  of  "Christ,  the 
Lamb  slain  from  before  the  foundation  of  the  world." 


THE  ^ 


•Jr^lVERSITV 

V  OP 


v\-rvuL'\.^C-XXvvviA(i 


